When the Devil dies, the Diva cries
by Vergil Diva's chevalier
Summary: Sequel to "The Devil and the Diva." After everyone returns to "Devil May Cry" the live together. However, a new enemy appears that almost kills Vergil upon their first meeting. M for violence, language, suggestive material and others.
1. Everyday morning

"Damned alarm clock." He remarked as the thing woke him up again.

"I can synchronize demon energy into myself, turn _into_ a demon, and accomplish feats you only see in Hollywood movies without a bead of sweat. Yet I can't figure out why this damn little box keeps turning on and making noise when I never even _set _it!" He grumbled loudly.

The room wasn't exactly the most bolstering thing to see in the morning; the mediocre size didn't speak of taste in housing or in richness. In fact, it said that you were _cheap_ and that you had _bad _taste!

"Luckily for me, _I'm _not the one who bought this place." Vergil told himself, trying to get some satisfaction out of the situation.

It was the end of the Summer so the temperature was finally lowering a bit, a good thing, as there was no practical or economically-sound way to keep the whole building normal during hot or cold conditions.

"I'm just lucky that girl has a decent endurance and taste for heat, otherwise she would be running around nude. He complained out loud at the room despite there obviously wasn't anyone there.

"She _would _to." Vergil continued, thinking about what he would do today.

"_Who _would?" A mischievous voice asked him from his left side, causing him to whip his gaze in the voice's direction and back away a bit all in one response.

This, unfortunately, resulted in him falling off the bed and colliding with the hard floor below.

"Argh!" The half-demon let out, one more thing to worry about mere minutes from his awakening.

"How did you _get _in here?" He remarked while pushing off the ground, performing a handstand before flipping forward and landing gracefully upright.

"You're such a show-off." The happy girl told him with her usual annoyingly carefree tone.

Vergil's mouth scowled and he faced her.

"How did you get in here?" He repeated.

Her smile looked happy to most but he could see the _trickery _in it. It mislead most, but _he _knew exactly what it was; a cover.

"That…_goblin_." He thought while walking over to the small closet of the room and opening the cheap, balsa-wood door to it.

She lay on his bed and curled up on it, her long black hair spread across the thing as if claiming it was _hers _now. The perfectly white dress and pale skin contrasting the blue black of her silky mane.

"I'm not telling you." She responded cheerily, her eyes closed.

"Of course not." Vergil commented while pulling a long blue shirt from a clothes hanger and sliding it on.

"You never do. And get off my bed. You have your own."

The sun and the particles floating through the air almost made it seem as if fairies were flying around above her head, as _windows _were not lacking in this room, stretched across a whole wall of the second floor bedroom.

"Yes…but there's something _wrong _with that one."

One of his eyebrows rose in curiosity as he finished buttoning the shirt up, though allowing the amulet around his neck to show by leaving a few open.

"Is that so? What?"

The eyes opened, revealing eyes that were too blue to belong to a human; the pure hue visible even with them slightly showing beneath her mostly closed eyelids.

"You're not there."

He scoffed in response and turned towards the door.

"So explain why you go out of your way to head up to the second floor storage area in the shop area and then leap from it just to land on and crush me; with your immense weight.

"What was that?"

"I said you're heavy."

"I know that, but you don't mean it."

"And how do you know that?"

"You're not a good liar."

"Really?"

Her smile became more apparent and she sat up on the bed, looking at him with no irritation.

"Yes."

Vergil began walking towards the door when there was a strange sound and a blue flash flew past him.

"That's not very mature." He remarked at how she had gotten in his way so that they would have to stay together.

"I didn't say it was…flour."

His brow furrowed.

"What?"

She giggled, leaning back against the door.

"That's what the guitar calls you." She responded.

"Nevan? Dante's sugar and I'm _flour_? She's got bad taste."

"Yes, she does."

Vergil was surprised by her collaboration.

"I'd call you whipped cream."

"Pah! That's ridiculous! Not to mention…" He strayed off, realizing what she'd almost gotten him to talk about.

The seemingly-teenaged girl noticed his enlightenment and giggled again.

"Thanks for eating it all by the way." Vergil remarked sarcastically.

"I like whipped cream." She responded, acting like she tasted it at the moment.

"That's something I'm aware of. You don't even need food to survive, so why did you eat it all?"

"Because it's _good_. It's soft going in my mouth and I like the way it slides down my throat. Like eating silk."

"You're akin to an alcoholic settling for drinking mouthwash." He responded.

"It's not _my _fault, _Saya's _the one who won't let me eat anyone anymore. I miss it." Diva spoke, feigning sadness in the last sentence.

"Yet I'd be willing to bet you prefer it to her turning you into a stone."

Her eyes looked directly at him, into _his _eyes.

"Would you let her do that to me?" She asked, no childishness in her voice.

Vergil's eyes stared into hers.

"Do you really need to ask?"

She broke off the eye-contact, her smile returning and her hand twisting the doorknob and opening the door.

"Nope!"

Despite himself he gave a quick "breath" of a laugh and followed her as she left the room.

The hallway on the second floor was narrow to say the least, people having to walk horizontally if they were trying to go in opposite directions at the same time.

Dante's and Lady's bedrooms were on the first floor, while Saya and Haji's, Diva's and Vergil's rooms were on the second story.

The floor of the hallway, though hardwood, was old and there was no way to tell if it, or the ceiling, or the walls, would come crashing down any minute, or last until the end of time.

A short stretch of a staircase joined the stories, even though it was just as narrow as the thin hallway.

There were two bathrooms, one per floor, the two designated either the "girl's" bathroom or the "boy's" bathroom, it having been decided by majority vote.

Lady had called for the vote and wanted the two genders separated based on that, Dante countering it and saying it shouldn't matter, followed by Saya who said that she didn't want to intrude, Haji not giving a vote since chevaliers usually didn't need to use bathrooms, Vergil saying he wanted his _own _bathroom and Diva voicing that she wanted to share one with him and have another one for herself as well, while the others could just use the dark alley besides the shop.

Dante had said that since no idea won, things should stay the way they were, with Lady telling him to shut up and that they should be separate.

The two walked down the stairs to the first floor and walked through the hallway down there before they made it to the door that led to the front and office portion of the building, heading through that.

The front of the shop had been remodeled somewhat thanks to Vergil's redecorations when he had come after Dante before, and now was more like a gigantic living room than an office.

Though it _was _still the room that "Devil May Cry" was run out of, so it had to remain somewhat the same.

Vergil walked over to one of the many expensive old-style couches and sat down on it.

"Dante's money situation might not be so tight if he cold learn how to spend well. Hundreds of dollars for one old couch and other furniture each, but only a few dozen for food and other things." Vergil thought to himself as Diva lay herself down on the couch, which was long enough to accommodate both of them as they were.

Of course, he still had to beat her away with a stick just to keep the cat-like girl from laying her head on his lap.

It was strange, after Diva stopped feeding on people, Saya had started actually being nice to her. At first there was still the edginess, but everyone's, except for Vergil and Diva's, worries that he might turn back into how he was before should a situation arise, kept the conflicts that the twin sisters had to a bare minimum.

Still, the brown-eyed one had asked to stay here, since there was an extra bedroom. To keep on eye on Diva at first, but she seemed to have grown to enjoy it after a while.

"Why am I even thinking about this?" Vergil asked himself while looking over towards the front door.

Because of his heightened senses, he could see all the way down the road in front of the shop, since the rubble from when Temen-Ni-Gru rose up before had been cleared.

Anyone in the surrounding area had been killed so there wasn't a living soul who would talk about it that knew how the crater had appeared. Everyone else just assumed it was a meteor or something that collided with the ground and broke into too many pieces to be able to tell it was there.

"Ignorant pigs." He remarked on humans, though perhaps it was because he saw a too-great amount of people heading into the reopened "gentleman's club" down the street.

"Dante…" Vergil mumbled to himself out loud.

There had been multiple problems concerning the surrounding area's various shops; the occasional drunken jerk wandering in after-hours, a couple of loan-sharks who claimed that Dante owed them money, even the shopkeeper of a new pawn shop that said all the things Dante had sold him didn't work for anything.

Luckily, all these problems held a simple solution, for drunks, there were fists, for loan-sharks, there were guns, and for the shopkeeper, there was Vergil, who had the ability to actually speak to people, despite how much he hated them, as opposed to Dante, who's only general talk was, "hey, how's your twenty-year-old daughter doing?"

The biggest incident, however, had been when Vergil was out doing a job for the shop and Diva woke up, heading off after him.

Unfortunately, her internal compass wasn't as good as it used to be for some reason and she had ended up in "Love Planet", the previously-mentioned "gentleman's club".

A "customer" of the place had been so drunk he didn't notice her actual appearance and told her he knew where Vergil was, which just happened to be in an alley beside the shop.

Having heard about Diva's depart upon his own return, Vergil had chased off after them and saw the two enter the alley.

When he got to the entrance, Diva had been holding the man's arms tight against his sides and was leaning over his neck.

Fortunately for everyone, that's as far as she had made it and when he told her to stop she threw him, open belt and all, back into a wall and came back home with him.

Whether he was alive or not was impossible to tell by simple estimation, but it was unimportant since Saya couldn't tell if it was her if he had died simply of a broken neck.

If he _hadn't _died he should have been glad that Diva's idea of a "deep throat" took longer than the overly-disgusting kind.

"Still, that was close. If she'd drank his blood and killed him, Saya definitely would have found out and gone after Diva." He thought, seriously considering how much of a danger it could have been if he wasn't with her.

"And now she gets worried every time Diva goes out. What a turn-around."

Dante wouldn't be up for another few hours, but that didn't mean he himself couldn't get started on the day's assignment.

"Stay here. I'm going to go do the job we were given last night." He told her while standing up.

The eyes drifted open.

"What's that?" She spoke to him sleepily, despite the fact she was always taking naps.

"Some man who owns a warehouse in the city said that he saw what looked like a thin, grey person with a scythe walking around in some kind of robe. He didn't saw what color it was, but it doesn't matter. Any of the "hells" won't take more than a few seconds once I find them."

She rolled over, facing the back of the couch.

"Okay. Have fun." Diva mumbled in an unenthusiastic but content tone.

He shook his head while walking back towards Dante's desk and stuck his hand beneath the part where you place your feet under, pulling the key from its magnetic holder and using it to unlock one of the weapon cases.

Like all of the other furniture and decorations of the shop, it was real wood, not the industrialized knock-off kind, and felt solid as he pulled the two "doors" open and grabbed Yamato's hilt.

As he did though, Vergil hesitated.

"Is it really even worth bringing Yamato for a single "hell sin"?" He asked himself before deciding against it and closing the doors, re-locking them and returning the key to its proper place.

Continuing across the office floor until he reached the double-doors, Vergil looked behind him, pretending to look at the weapons case instead of the couch, and then left.

* * *

The first chapter of the sequel. I know it wasn't action-packed, but the descriptions are just to make sure anyone who reads this knows what I'm talking about(people who didn't read the first one for example). The title was as close as I could get to the original and still feel okay about it. Random disclaimer...blah blah blah. Okay then, back to the story.


	2. Regular mission?

"Thank god you've arrived!" The man said as Vergil, evidently, arrived at the warehouse.

It was an extremely scummy part of the city and though he wasn't worried at all about being mugged or killed he _did_ intend on wearing his clothes and shoes more than once; something getting mold on them would interfere with.

"The…person, that you saw before. The intruder, do you remember what color the thing it was wearing was?" Vergil asked as the owner fiddled with the lock to the warehouse door.

It was mid-day, yet because of the heavy clouds and the high warehouse buildings only a small amount of light made it in-between the spaces of the outside of the warehouse.

This wasn't really a problem, but it was the only thing around worth noting as the owner of this particular warehouse struggled to find the right key for the lock.

"I'm…not really sure. I mean the guy or whatever he is obviously is seriously messed up. I just wanted to get out of there as quickly as I could."

"Of course you did." Vergil responded, seeming to confuse the man, who obviously couldn't tell if it was an insult or an empty comment.

"Anyway, how are you planning to get that guy out of here? You didn't seem to bring a gun or anything with you, so-"

"Guns aren't my style. I've only used them twice. I'm perfectly capable of taking care of one enemy with my hands."

"Even with that big thing it was carrying around?" He asked, having found the right key and taken the lock and chain off the door.

"If I can't, just call someone else and let _them _take care of it. It isn't as if we ask for payment up front." Vergil spoke in a tone showing his absence of patience.

Though he had grown to accept the humans a bit more now, that still didn't mean he _liked _them. And this person was hardly the kind of company he wanted.

"Someone like-" He cut his thoughts off, not wanting to complete it even though no one else could hear it.

The man strained to pull the door open and didn't seem to be making much progress.

"Damn it! It's the rain from last night, screwing with this crappy metal." He complained before Vergil sighed, pulled the man away and shoved the door open casually with a single hand.

"You stay here, I can't get paid for this if you get killed."

"Killed?!"

Another sigh.

"Just stay put. And tell me if you see that…person, again."

With that, Vergil walked into the dark warehouse and looked around with his heightened sight.

It was still difficult to see around, but the place seemed to be decently organized so there was nothing to worry about in terms of tripping. And Vergil trusted his instincts to tell him if the "sin" should try to sneak up on him.

"Pride, Lust, Envy, Sloth, Gluttony…it doesn't really matter _which _one it is. And it can't be a Wrath since those carry organic bombs, not scythes."

The shadows were luckily unmoving, so it wouldn't be difficult to tell where it was when the thing showed up.

"It's a good thing I didn't bring Diva along, aside from us never making it in here because he wouldn't take us seriously, she'd be trying to play hide-and-go-seek or something with me." He thought before hearing something fall down somewhere on the left.

Everything stored here was fairly mediocre, old furniture, boxes of tax-records, and other unimportant things. But if that was the case, why go through so much trouble to have the person removed from here by a third party? Why not just have the oh-so-famous city police department handle it?

"They almost shut us down that one time." Vergil complained before hearing the sound again.

It was a good thing too, as the dust in this place was starting to get to his sinuses.

"Not appearing behind me or rushing towards me. Must be a Pride, Gluttony or Envy…"

But it wasn't.

As he turned the crate-made corner all he saw was a big pile of sand.

"Strange." Vergil actually spoke out loud while walking over to it and kneeling down to examine whether or not it was what he thought it was.

It took only half a minute for him to discern that it was, in fact, the remains of one of the "seven sins". Though which one, he was unsure of.

"That's unimportant. The real question is, _how _did it get killed? Human guns are capable of killing demons, but require a much greater amount of ammo to be spent than demonically-infused ones. And there aren't any signs of shell casings or stray shots. Add to that, this sand looks to have fallen exactly this way. And there aren't any bullets in it. If it was killed, it must have been-"

"…by a sword!" A voice declared behind him.

He whipped around, instinctively reaching for Yamato's hilt, even though it wasn't there.

No one could be seen, even now that his eyes had adjusted to the darkness.

"What the hell is going on?!" Vergil thought while scanning the area for the speaker.

It hadn't been the man who'd hired him. Their voices were complete opposites.

The owner of the warehouse had a voice that spoke of his age, yet suggested that he was a normally-easy-going person who just wanted to get back to his life.

But the other one…

_His _voice had sounded youthful, or at the very least not old. And held an amused tone as if he considered life one big joke.

"It doesn't _matter _though, because I can't find him. And humans can't move away that fast, let alone kill a demon with a sword."

Then there was something, on top of two large storage containers that seemed to belong on transport ships as opposed to in a person's warehouse.

A figure walked across the top, staring at him while doing so.

The figure in question fit the youthful, mid-twenties voice it had sounded like, though it seemed that he had grey hair.

Black pants, a turtle-neck sweater made of thin materials and shoes of an indiscernible type were what made up his outfit, in addition to strange-looking black sunglasses.

His skin, which was paler than Diva's or anyone else's tone, seemed like it been sculpted in some high-quality resin factory and contrasted with the otherwise smooth, dark appearance.

He could tell the person wasn't human; if it hadn't been because he was obviously the one responsible for killing the demon or because he had managed to get out of sight before Vergil turned around before, it would be that the man had scaled two full-sized cargo containers that were perfectly stacked in an amount of time he hadn't even witnessed.

"Who are you?" Was all Vergil asked the person, noting there was no sword or even a blade in his hands.

The man's shifty smile widened a bit as he spun around before bowing in a dramatic gesture.

"Nanba-juusan…!" He spoke with an energy that seemed to echo the intensity of a Mexican dance in-and-of itself, despite the fact he had performed a ballroom-like spin.

"Kuroihando Migigawa!" He finished, looking up from his bow.

"Pleased to meet you, Blue-silver."

"'blue silver' huh? And with a name like that I would assume you'd come straight out of a Japanese comic-book. What do you want from me?"

"Kuroi's" head tilted in a sign of curiosity before he spoke back.

"Evidently you haven't discovered yours yet." He responded while returning to a normal standing position.

"What?"

"In that case, I'm finished here. What a waste of time this has been." Kuroi responded all without losing that unsettling smile. It echoed a psychopath's personality.

As the man turned to leave, however, a crystal-blue sword flew towards him, causing Kuroi to flip out of the way and land on the ground, facing Vergil.

"Why are you in such a rush to leave?" Vergil asked him, multiple other swords appearing behind his back.

"You'd like to play, hm?" Kuroi rhetorically asked while adjusting his sunglasses, which Vergil now noticed were that much stranger because they were in almost total blackness.

"Very well, with that owner now out of the way we don't have to worry about anyone interrupting us."

He felt his mouth move into a slight scowl.

"You killed him?"

Kuroi shrugged playfully in response.

"'kill' is such an ugly word. I prefer to think of it as giving him a little rest in the shade."

"I see… That's unfortunate for you." Vergil spoke, a dozen more of the swords appearing behind him.

"If I was actually going to get paid for this I might have allowed you to live."

His opponent didn't respond he sent all of the swords at him at the same time, but when Kuroi did a quick spinning step to the right and dodged them all, Vergil began sending the blades towards him individually.

Yet no matter how many he sent, Kuroi would just keep dodging them, making it look like a choreographed dance while steadily closing the distance between them.

He could handle going into close combat with the man, it was his preferred way of fighting. But the demon had been killed by _some _kind of a blade, and yet Vergil saw not-so-much as a sheath or scabbard on the man.

Kuroi stopped in mid-air, landing on the ground standing.

"I hope you don't mind if I stop this game a little short. Just running around dodging your powder-blue butter knives _does _get a bit tiring after a while." Kuroi spoke while adjusting his sunglasses again.

"He's fast, but I wonder if his attack capability is low; relying on the speed of his attacks to get past the enemy's guard." Vergil thought as Kuroi looked directly into his eyes, making a connection even thought the latter was wearing the strange accessory.

"Burn your eyes out! Teiryuugyoushi!" He declared.

Before Vergil could tell him how old the Japanese-word theme was getting though, he felt himself frozen stiff, his eyes going wide in surprise.

Kuroi seemed to notice his reaction and laughed.

"Curious, isn't it? How you can't so much as scratch your nose?" He asked while taking his time to walk towards Vergil.

"His eyes?! The sunglasses, maybe… I can't tell." He thought to himself as the strange man approached.

"Teiryuugyoushi; halt stare. Whenever I look into my enemy's eyes, it paralyzes them. Making them stiffen and, more often than not, deader than a doornail." He finished.

"I can't move my body hm? Well then…"

Vergil summoned as many of the swords as he could and sent them all at Kuroi, who managed to dodge them easily, but had to break eye-contact in order to do so.

At the same time, Vergil grabbed a nearby chair and threw the thing towards the nearest boarded-up window; the ancient wood easily break through both glass and board because of the force behind it.

Before Kuroi could react, Vergil ran towards the opening and dove out, the pain in his eyes from going from too little light to too much receding even as he landed outside and snapped his gaze back into the darkness of the building.

A letter-opener flew out towards him and even though he tried to dodge it, the projectile lodged itself right next to his head.

"He knew where I would try to dodge to?"

"Getting the willy's huh? I don't blame you. It was about time we ended our little game anyway. I look forward to seeing how you progress, Blue-Silver. Don't let me down."

After that the voice didn't speak again and Vergil scowled.

"Damn! To have retreated like that…it's humiliating! I should have brought Yamato with me after all."

After a sigh though Vergil calmed down.

"I'll head home and think about it there. It's certainly better than standing in this rank little area of town."

* * *

I might as well say it now, this sequel is going to be very different than the last story, if in nothing else, because of the enemies they face and the way they fight. Hopefully this new way (with the techniques) will not bother those who read it but if it does, I'm still doing it the same way. Though if the japanese words are absolutely hated I may have them say the english translations instead. Regardless I'll update tomorrow.


	3. BDA

As he opened the doors to the office of Devil May Cry, Vergil noticed that Dante _still _wasn't up, though Haji and Saya were sitting on a couch, other than the one Diva still occupied, and had both apparently been reading the newspaper or something as they noticed him enter.

"Oh, hello Vergil." Saya said to him as he came in.

"Good afternoon." He managed out in response while walking across the wood floor, his footsteps echoing off the high ceiling.

"How did your assignment go?" She asked as he passed "Diva's" couch, and escaped the grasping arm while walking towards the back door.

"It was interrupted." Vergil told her while placing a hand on the doorknob.

"If you're looking for Dante, he hasn't woken up yet." Saya offered, causing Vergil to turn around again.

"But if it's important…"

With that Haji stopped reading and pulled his new cello out of a itself-new case and began playing a song that Vergil remembered Dante hated.

"Noooooo!" An irritated yell came from the back of the building.

"He should be up here shortly." She spoke with a smile.

Vergil allowed himself to give a hrug in a gesture of being a bit impressed and once again walked back into the main area of the office, looking at the double doors that made up its entrance.

"If it's something you're being careful of it must have been more than one demon." She continued.

"Did you-"

"Vergil ran away!" Diva spoke through a giggle on her couch, causing Vergil's gaze to snap to her, glaring.

"You little…"

His trail-off of an insult only caused to further amuse her and she continued until he walked over to the couch and sat down where he had been before.

She stopped though when he just stared forward, in thought, and she sat up, sliding her legs off the couch.

"You _did_?" Diva asked, actually showing a bit of surprise.

"I wasn't running away. My enemy was _much _stronger than a normal, everyday demon. And he killed both it and the owner before I had even noticed."

"What's that?!" A loud voice boomed while kicking open the back door to the office.

The serious atmosphere was shattered as his loud-mouth twin made his way towards them.

"My stern-as-a-catholic-school-teacher brother ran away? And he didn't even get _paid_?!"

Vergil scowled, looking back at Dante.

"It's been months since they started staying here. You haven't learned to wear a shirt since then?" He returned in a vain attempt to avert the conversation to a different subject.

But Dante jumped over the couch and landed on the floor, leaning over, facing him.

"Uh, uh, _uh_! You're not getting off that easily! You ran away didn't you?"

"Shut up."

"Didn't even get to do your job."

"Be _quiet_."

"You ran awaaaaa- ugh!" Dante was hit in the face and sent spiraling away, barely able to land on the ground and not the wall as he looked back towards the couch.

Diva's hand came back down.

"No more picking on him. Go put a shirt on." She spoke to him dismissively as he rubbed his jaw.

"Rrrrrg. Right." He mumbled out while heading towards the back of the office.

Looking at her in the corner of his vision was all the thanks he gave her but it seemed to be enough, and she cuddled against him, despite the fact he still didn't enjoy it that much, Vergil was willing to let her get away with it this time.

"So how powerful was your enemy?" Haji asked, surprising Vergil at how "lengthy" is sentence was.

"It was a human, or at least something that looked exactly like one. He was extremely fast, and had some kind of an ability to paralyze people with his eyes or something like that. I'm not sure."

"Was he alone?"

Vergil nodded.

"If I'd brought Yamato with me I could have won for sure. Or if I'd transform-"

"_No_." Diva spoke, her smile gone.

He looked away from her towards a random wall.

"We can't have you going bonkers again after all, can we?" She spoke simply.

Vergil continued looking away before a silky hand came up and pulled his chin to make him to face her.

"You'll win next time. That's all." She told him before regaining a smile and laying against him once again.

"That's right. Now that you know what to expect, I'm sure you'll be prepared enough to defeat whoever that was." Saya offered as well.

"I suppose. It was strange though, it seemed as if he was waiting for me to do something. Or like he wanted me to have something."

The back-office door opened as Dante made his return, albeit much more quietly.

"That _is _strange." Saya commented before Dante once again broke in.

"Maybe he was waiting for old-Vergie to get all handsome like his bro." He offered before sitting down on the couch Saya and Haji occupied.

"We're _twins_, Dante. We look the same." He spoke with his eyes closed.

"I don't _think _soooo-"

"You're right. My Vergil's cuter." Diva commented herself, turning the comments against Dante and causing him to stop the teasing.

"'your' Vergil?" He asked her while opening his eyes, causing a quick little giggle in response.

"Yes. _Mine_."

"I see." He said before turning the gaze to Dante.

"Dante, I want you to take this seriously now."

"But I _am_." He spoke, poking into his ear.

"I mean it."

Dante's brow furrowed as he paid attention to Vergil for what felt like the first time in weeks.

"He's that good huh?"

"So you heard about him?"

"Yeah. The eye thing anyway."

Vergil nodded.

"He called himself Kuroihando. I can only imagine it's a Japanese name."

"Weird. The guy give you a second one?"

"Migigawa I think it was."

"That means 'Black Hand. Right Side.'" Saya spoke, reminding him that she had been living in Okinawa before.

"Gotta hand it to the Japanese. They come up with some weird things." Dante spoke before getting a "look" from Saya and taking it back.

"He was definitely a strange person. It seemed as if he was playing with me the whole time. But… there's one thing I'm concerned about more."

"You're so dramatic, making a big build-up." Diva spoke into him with her usual teasing and happy tone.

He ignored her though and fixed his gaze on Saya.

"What does nanba-juusan mean?"

Her own eyes widened a bit before she responded.

"It means 'number thirteen'."

Vergil sighed in response.

"I thought so. Which probably means there's more of people like him."

Dante's loud yawn ruined the "density" of the conversation as he leaned back into the couch.

"What're you getting so worked up about? If they come here, we'll kick their asses and then go get groceries. It's what we do when anyone _else_ shows up to kill us."

"It's not that I'm afraid. I just like to know who my enemies are. Especially when they interfere with business. How do you think you're going to be able to keep this building going if mysterious strangers keep showing up and taking our work?"

A shrug.

"Guess I'll just the customer up somewhere, wait 'til the other people kill the things and then tell the person it was me and get paid."

Vergil sighed and got up off the couch, eliciting an "aww" from Diva as he walked over to Dante's desk and once again went through the process of opening the weapon cabinet with the hidden key. But this time he took Yamato with him before closing it.

"I'm going to go check it out." He told them while walking past everyone, Diva getting off the couch and coming towards him.

"I'll come with you then." She offered happily.

"No, don't worry about it. I'll be fine." Vergil responded as he opened the doors and left once again.

* * *

"Always such a drama-queen." Dante said with a grin while laying back into the couch, "waking up".

"I'm sure he'll be okay. I can't think of anyone who could beat him single-handedly. With how powerful he was before." Saya added herself, as Diva stood in the same place, staring at the doors as if he would come back.

Dante "cleared his throat", but she didn't add anyone to the "Vergil's equal" list.

"The three of us were unable to defeat him back at the Zoo. I am certain he will be fine." Haji added himself, Dante's legs starting to jitter.

"Diva? Why don't you sit down? I don't think he's going to be back soon."

She only nodded her head and "dragged" herself over to her couch and lay down again.

"He'll be _fine_. Just remember how he-"

"Alright already!" Dante yelled out while sitting back up and stomping down on the floor.

Saya looked at him, surprised, before he stood up and stomped off to the back of the building.

"What was that about?" Saya asked no one in particular after he was gone.

"Vergil…" Diva began.

"All that stuff you were talking about. It was how strong he _used _to be. He's worried now; nervous almost. He can't act how he used to, can't _be _how he used to. That makes him weaker."

Both Saya and Haji were surprised at how she was talking so seriously.

"And it's that same reason that _Dante_ is worried about him. He's always acted like a demon. So his human side is weaker for it."

"But he still won't let himself lose, right?"

She didn't say anything in response to that.

"Then why didn't you go after him? You've never hesitated from doing what you wanted _before_."

"I don't know why. I just think something bad is going to happen."


	4. Change isn't always good

"Maybe I _should_ have brought Diva along. These streets and alleyways seem to stink less when she's around." Vergil spoke to himself while walking along the sidewalk of some random city street, the time already past sunset.

"Dozens of bars and strip-clubs and absolutely nothing useful in the way of information. Apparently it doesn't work as well in real life as Dante said it did. Not to mention that one woman on the walkway hit me in the eye with some kind of boa thing, and it still itches." He complained before sighing and coming to a halt on the street corner, waiting for the pedstrian sign to come on.

Everything around him was so busy; cars, shops, signs, people, music…there was just too much stuff going on for him to concentrate. He could be stalked by a _human _and might not even know it.

"I've lost my edge. I guess that's what happens when you only deal with one-to-ten demons per job."

There was some religious nut out somewhere among the crowd belting out phrases of how the evil should be and will be punished, as well as a man that looked like he worked beneath a volcano; a gigantic muscled body and dark-skinned appearance that almost looked like soot, and a blue-cloaked man wearing sandals stuck out from the crowd.

"Perhaps that man just arrived her from somewhere and no one knows him."

It took a few more seconds before Vergil actually got the thought through his head.

With the exception of the nut, the other two hadn't seemed to belong here at all. The city was full of strange people but there was something different about them.

Then the voice belonging to that religious guy, who wasn't visible at the moment, resounded, becoming louder and more echoed than was naturally possible.

"Oh great light! Strike this evil thing from the earth!" He declared a moment before Vergil felt something crackle above him.

"There's no way…" He spoke, looking up at the sky before a flash beat down towards him, almost catching the half-demon as he rolled away and out of its path.

"Didn't look like lightning…Almost like a beam of light." He thought while coming back up.

Everyone else around him began screaming as well, and cars came to a screeching halt as something like a flying flame crashed into a large movie-theater, bringing the sign above its doors come down, landing on and instantly killing those who had been trying to enter with a sickening crunch and sending chunks of asphalt out flying into those who were waiting in line.

As all of the people on the street started to try and run away, Vergil noticed the water level beneath a nearby grate rising… and then overflowing as the water slid itself along all of the paths the various people were trying to use to escape and formed into actual walls of water, causing those who had seen it to stop in their tracks, and those who _hadn't _seen it to collide with the ones in front of them.

Then the walls rose and rose until they were taller than the movie theater had been and, despite the complete impossibility that water could stay solid in this state, leaned inwards towards the people and turned into tidal waves in mid-air, slamming everyone down against the sidewalk and pavement, those who didn't die of the head trauma were drowned soon afterwards.

"Damn." He spoke under his breath before diving out of the way of yet another bolt of light.

Vergil tried to find the "prophet", already knowing the two responsible for the fire and water attacks were the iron-worker and the blue-cloaked guy as they were the only people still standing.

"And may the holy light descend upon this being!" The man cried out again, this time the whole sky flashing and temporarily blinding him.

However, the temporary illumination had allowed him to spot where the "light" guy was; atop a two story building with a book in his hand.

"Great. A cult of super-elemental freaks. My day just wasn't complete with only one." He spoke to himself while getting back up, finding it surprisingly difficult to despite the fact he hadn't been hit by any of the attacks.

The soot-skinned man, who he now noticed had dark reddish-brown hair and red eyes, was standing many yards away to Vergil's left, wearing a white t-shirt covered with something like ash that had turned it grey, red-colored military pants, brown suspenders and a wool cap. A serious burn scar could be seen sticking out from beneath the shirt and the man's overt reddish brown stubble which was approaching a beard made it look like he literally ate nails for breakfast.

About the same distance away, but on his right, was the blue-cloaked man who also seemed to be wearing baggy pants, but blue and with more of a Brazilian appearance. His skin was tanned as well, though it seemed the kind you would get from living on a tropical island as opposed to down in iron-forges, and had light blue eyes in addition to very dark blue hair. His shirt, if there was one, couldn't be seen because the cloak was buttoned up and the sandals he wore looked like they had been made out of hay or some other natural material.

"What's with the color scheme here? Are they a supernatural "Village people" band or something?" Vergil spoke to himself, not finding the bad joke amusing.

The man atop the building, which was strangely the same distance away as the other two, had light-grey hair, somewhat like the first black-outfitted one, perfectly pristine white clothes, polished expensive-looking shoes and many golden rings on his fingers, in addition to the book he held. It surprisingly didn't seem to actually have a title, such as a bible or Koran, and was just a simple, black-covered book, though it did have a page marker. His skin was quite tanned as well, though he still appeared to be Caucasian, like he went to tanning parlors.

"Three of them. But what about Kuroi? Or any of the others? If there _are _more then maybe they're hiding. How far up do they go? Was Kuroi the strongest? Or is number one the most powerful?"

All of these thoughts and more flew through his head as the elemental-trio looked on at him.

The street was still flooded by water, but only an inch or so remained, the remnants of the tidal waves having disappeared while he wasn't paying attention.

Any of the escape routes he could use, if Vergil was willing to use them this time, were marked by dozens of corpses splayed out along the length of them.

"Still, I don't know how durable they are. Perhaps these people are just humans with magical powers and are as phyiscally weak as the rest." He thought before being interrupted.

"You! The silver-haired devil! Where is it?!" The white-clad man boomed down at him from his building of a "pedestal".

"I don't know what you're talking about." He responded, loud enough so that the man could hear him, but not in a big loud voice like the other.

"Don't play me for a fool! I know that you are one of the four who are able to use them! There's no point in lying! Not anymore!"

Vergil felt himself yawn, having some of Dante rubbed off on him apparently.

"I already told you; I don't know what you're talking about. And I'm sure not going to be paying for the damages done to this area."

"Mindless drones! They should be grateful that their lives were sacrificed for such a great cause!" He spoke, the free arm reaching out at the air.

"Are you the leader of this group?" Vergil asked him, ignoring the self-righteous declaration.

"You could say that. Of the three of us I am of the higher standing." The man said while bringing to arm back down to his side.

"Then perhaps you could tell me why you keep coming after me even though I don't have whatever it is that you want."

"There is no point in doing so. It is what you will possess that we seek, not you."

Vergil brought Yamato out from under his coat.

"Is that so? Well I know that there's at least one more of you. So that means if I kill you three here there'll still be someone around to answer my questions.

"Heheh. Hahaha! _One _more?! Don't be naïve, boy!" The platinum-haired man, who Vergil now noticed appeared to be in his forties, belted down.

"There are twenty-one of us in all-together!"

His eyes went wide.

"_Twenty one_? That many?"

"Yes! And the man that you faced earlier today was a rank weaker than me!"

Vergil's eyes returned to normal.

"I see. Then I guess I'll have something to keep me busy for a few days." He spoke while bring Yamato out slightly.

"We have no use for you as you are now, with that demon-sword. There is no point in thrashing you."

"Thrashing me? Tell me, captain sun chips, why you think you're stronger than I am." Vergil asked, unable to believe he'd said something like "sun chips".

"Because Kuroi made you flee without so much as taking you seriously."

"Why don't _you _give it a try then?" Vergil offered, earning a scoff in response.

"You aren't worth me wasting my time on. You two! Go teach him a lesson!" He declared, first pointing to them, then to him.

"Heh. Sending the other two to do your work for you hm? That's a false prophet for you."

"We'll see how smug you are in a few minutes." He retorted.

The wool-capped man and the sandal-clad man began their way towards him.

"If I can get them together maybe the two's powers will cancel each other out." Vergil thought while unsheathing Yamato.

He began walking towards them as well and though it took a few minutes the time seemed to fly by as Vergil thought of the best way to get them to attack each other.

"The water one's most likely the man wearing blue. Should I go for him first? His attacks definitely have a lot of potential, but maybe he can't use them as effectively while an ally is near the opponent as well. I don't know as much about the other one since I only saw him send some kind of fireball into that sign."

His thoughts seemed to zoom from one thing to another, but Vergil wasn't able to decide even as they made it within a few yards of him.

"Who are you two then?" He asked as they came closer.

"Novero-otto; Incendio Veni Sinistramo." The iron-worker spoke.

"Nanba-juushi; Mizu Issui Migite." The cloaked one added, smiling.

"Such long names. But yours is Italian isn't it? I'd thought you all had Japanese names." Vergil asked the iron-worker, Incendio.

"It is unimportant where we come from or what our names are. Our goals are the same." Incendio told him as the two came to a halt a yard away from each other and him, forming a triangle.

"I suppose so. How do you want to do this? Are you going to take turns or attack me at the same time?"

Neither responded and Vergil's eyes narrowed.

"What is it?" He asked them, not understanding why they wouldn't answer.

"You are quite different from how we've heard you are, Vergil." Incendio spoke in his deep tone.

"How's that?"

Incendio stamped forward and reached out with one of his arms, Vergil blocking the hand with his sword.

As a loud hiss sounded out through the air, he noticed that Mizu was gone.

The second he realized this, there was a sound from behind him and Vergil turned back, facing where the sound had come from.

Mizu was in fact there, but had only used his control over the water to blast a manhole out of the street.

"I don't understand. Why- aggh!" He yelled as another hand grabbed him and felt like he'd been touched by an old boiler.

He struggled for a few seconds before managing to get both his shoulder and sword out of the hands' grips, backing away and swiping at Mizu, who back-stepped and avoided the attack, still smiling an easy-going smile.

Vergil's legs stretched over the hole that the manhole had covered, and he just barely managed to cut the falling metal disc as it descended once again, though the effort put him off balance and he had to stumble away from the hole, turning around while regaining his footing to look at the two of them.

"_That _is what we mean." Incendio spoke again.

"We were told you were a real bad-ass, man." Mizu added himself, his strange teasing way of speaking contrasting Incendio's gruff-but-straight bellow.

"And we came all the way here to fight you, and take what we wanted of course. But the battle was what most of us were _really _after. Then we get here and you turn out to be as green and fragile as a vegetable leaf."

Vergil scowled while holding his shoulder, which struggled to heal the burn for a few seconds, the part of his shirt which was covering it before having turned to ash the second it was touched.

"You were unable to defeat Kuroi, or even force him to release his powers to the next level. Then you made the mistake of allowing the two of us to follow you for several miles, until you finally reached this place and was caught off guard when you were attacked."

"Almost got barbecued a few times, and then you even bothered to ask us if we would attack you in turns or at the same time. You don't _tell _someone if you're going to use an unfair bonus in battle."

"The man _we _heard of would have known we were following him. He would have been able to dodge the first attack, not haphazardly dive away. He would have dashed across the street and slashed at one of us without warning while attempting to impale the other all in one move. He would have _fought _instead of _talked_. And he certainly wouldn't have been so weak." Incendio spoke, regarding all of his mistakes which he knew never would have been made months ago.

"Weak…" Vergil mumbled to himself, forgetting how long it had been since he'd compulsively thought about that word.

"I've changed." He remarked simply, not bothering with a retort.

"So we see."

"The question is…" Vergil heard Mizu say from to his other side, the silver-haired man backing up more so he could see the two of them without having to turn his head.

The man's hand reached up under the cloak and yanked something downward, bringing out a circular-handle in his hands with what looked like flexible metal strips attached to it.

"…has it all been _good _for you?" He finished, holding the "weapon" out.

Vergil tossed Yamato's sheath behind him and held the sword with both hands.

He was facing two enemies who had already succeeded in wounding him once, and without actual weapons. Neither getting hurt in return and making him look like a fool for almost getting hit by a falling manhole cover and then sent stumbling away.

"Damn." He said to himself, regretting not having brought Diva with him.


	5. When the Devil dies

Vergil tricked over to where Incendio was and swung Yamato at him, but the large man was surprisingly agile, and simply took a big step backwards and brought an arm behind him, like binding the throwing arm of a trebuchet before it's released.

"Too slow." He said loudly but with no irritation before releasing his gravitational hold on the massive arm and letting it rocket forward into Vergil's face, singing his skin even as he was sent flying backwards, barely managing to stab Yamato into the ground and stop his projectile-like travelthrough the air.

"Don't fall asleep now, dude." He heard Mizu energetically tell him from behind him before a whipping noise sounded out and he felt both skin and fabric torn from his back as he revolved around and swung out at Mizu to make him fall back.

But he just ducked under the swipe and then stood back up, once again lacerating Vergil with the paper-thin metal tendrils on his weapon, though this time they slid along his arm.

Vergil yelled out in more pain than anger before he summoned the crystal swords around him and sent them out in all directions.

Mizu chuckled as he back-flipped out of one of the blades' paths even as Vergil ran forward, stabbing out at the elusive bastard.

But once again Mizu dodged, this time simply side-stepping the attack and then striking the katana with his weapon and entrapping the thing within before pulling the sword from Vergil's grip and spinning around, kicking Vergil back the way he'd come.

"Damn!" He yelled while flipping back up, barely dodging another punch by Incendio while retreating.

Incendio didn't immediately chase after him and Vergil, reluctantly, surveyed the situation.

Yamato, which he had thought would help him so much in this battle, was now ensnared in Mizu's strange weapon. His shirt resembled a more colorful version of what a Roman-age slave would have when he constantly betrayed his masters. Mizu was several yards away, playfully dangling Yamato in the air with his weapon, while Incendio was beginning to approach him.

"Damn! Taking him on hand-to-hand is _not_ a good idea." He told himself while taking steps back, trying to think of what to do.

"You're pathetic man!" Mizu said to him in conversational tone.

"A dude's gotta be able to do more than just get burnt and whipped to win a fight. Where's your _spirit_?!"

Vergil scowled, keeping his attention on Incendio.

"You are wasting your time, Mizu. This one has no more spirit. Can't you see it? He's become no more different than normal humans. He just heals quicker."

"Heheh! Yeah, you've got _that_ right hombre!"

His fists clenched and Vergil ran towards Incendio, jumping up into the air and aiming his foot down towards the large man's face.

As Incendio tried to grab his leg, however, Vergil air-tricked over to Mizu and dove towards his weapon, snatching Yamato from his grip while getting a safe distance away, coming up with Yamato already.

"There ya go!" Mizu yelled while running forward, whipping his weapon at Vergil's face.

This time however, he intentionally got Yamato caught in Mizu's weapon and round-housed _him _in the face, the weapons separating as Mizu stumbled away, still smiling that ridiculous carefree and friendly smile of his that almost felt like it was mocking Diva's.

Incendio stepped up beside Mizu, still staring at Vergil as Mizu brought his bloody hand away from his no-longer bleeding nose.

"I think we pissed him off, friend." He spoke teasingly while running his hands along the metal extensions of his weapon.

"Agreed."

Vergil stood up completely, still in a prepared stance should they try to surprise him again.

"Still think I don't have any spirit?" He asked them in a tone he hadn't used in a while.

A grin even teased at Incendio's mouth, though it never succeeded in the battle.

"Ha ha! Hey, Vergil, you ever seen Rocky two?" Mizu asked him as he stopped stroking the weapon.

"What?"

"You know…the boxing movie." He said while sending out fake punches into the air, unintentionally slicing through it since he was still holding his weapon.

"Well, there's this part where the old guy, Mickey, is talking to big-strong Rocky and his messed-up eye." Mizu continued, slumped over like a stereotypical old man.

"And he says; you got the heart but you ain't got the tools no more!"

"You're saying there's something wrong with my eye?" Vergil responded, pretending not to understand so he would ruin the point.

"Not at all. Your eyes look as determined as ever. It's your _mind _that's all messed up and swollen. You got to play Joe Shmoe for a little while, but it made you softer than cupcake icing. _Good _icing, not the hard kind."

"Ask your nose how soft I've become."

Mizu shook his head and closed his eyes, still smiling.

"He just doesn't get it, does he?"

"I don't think so." Incendio concurred.

He was tired of this.

Vergil ran towards them and tricked right in front of the two, swiping Yamato horizontally, separating them.

Almost in the same movement he turned his gaze on Incendio and stabbed at his neck.

But his attack was stopped before it was finished as four coils of metal wound around his own neck and pulled on it, slicing into the soft flesh and causing Vergil to drop his weapon as he tried to pull the weapon away.

As he did so, however, Incendio reached towards him and pulled his arms away, burning them while holding the things immobile and letting the weapon to continue to cut its way through his neck and strangle him at the same time.

"Hey, Vergil? Buddy? I've got a question to ask you if you don't mind." Mizu offered him, even though he was unable to even snarl in response because of his airway being filled with blood.

"You know that girl that you're always hanging out with? The long-haired chick with the blue eyes."

"Diva?…" He asked no one in particular as his eyes widened.

"Yeah. Her. I was just wondering… you think I got a shot? Where I come from it doesn't really matter what the age difference is, and I'm only about eight years older-"

"Heh heh." He managed out despite the blood clotting in his throat.

"She's older than you think."

"Oh? That so? I guess she'll know a few things then." He teased, Vergil's temporary smile vanishing.

"You…"

"Well I mean you said it yourself, she's older than she looks. And looking like that she can't be "hot off the press". Come on, baby blue eyes, that face, and so cute-"

His fists tightened and he pulled against Incendio's grip, puncturing the skin and throwing him several yards away before reaching over his own shoulder and grabbing Mizu's arm, pulling him forward and slamming the man into the pavement before hurling him away into a street light, causing the thing to fall down in response.

He reached down and picked up Yamato, the whites of his eyes tinged red, the silver-blue irises becoming yellow.

"I don't care how many of you there are. If you're going to hurt her then I'll kill you all before you so much as speak her name again." He spoke in a whisper that nevertheless stretched its voice out across the whole area.

Mizu's smile was gone, Incendio was scowling, not frowning, and even that self-glorifying fool-in-white was agape.

"I'm sure she'll forgive me if I let it slip just once." He spoke, a smirk snatching at his mouth as the air around him pulsed.

"Oh, dear. That's not good. You shouldn't be so unfaithful to her, if she means that much to you." A voice told him whimsically from behind.

He whipped around, but didn't see anyone there.

"Not Kuroi. Someone else." Vergil told himself while turning back to face the other two-

-and saw a man wearing a long black coat with a white-upturned collar facing away from him.

"Incendio, Mizu, Shiroi… you can retreat for now."

"But…" Shiroi began before the unidentified man looked up at him, causing his eyes to fill with fear.

"Y- yes sir."

The man, who had long black hair which almost seemed like dark silver in the light, nodded.

A moment later three holes appeared beside the men, looking like they were made of shadow.

The three of them entered the "Shadow-holes" and disappeared, followed by the dark portals themselves.

After that the man turned to face him, a shifty, grinning face looking at him with content eyes.

His face looked almost effeminate, but not overly so. His eyes, which were reflective grey, looked like a canvas for normal ones to be set into. The coat was closed over his chest and stomach, but grey pants and black shoes that looked more impressive than Kuroi's stood out, as well as a white, crescent-moon-shaped pin near the heart area of the coat.

"I'm sorry. Mizu can be such a character at times. Please forgive him." The shifty man offered him, Vergil not letting his guard down just because the other was being nice.

"Who are you?" He asked simply and unenthusiastically.

"Ah! Right! I'm sorry. I was trying to talk to you without even introducing myself. My name is Ritorno Gigaika."

"You forgot something."

Ritorno's eyes actually changed to a shade of green as they showed his curiosity.

"I did? What did I forget?"

"Your "number". You all have numbers right?"

Ritorno nodded in response.

"Of course!" He spoke enthusiastically, his eyes turning back to grey.

"Then what are you? A noverto or a nanba?"

"Neither."

His hand tightened on his sword.

"What _are_ you then?"

"I'm number eleven."

One of Vergil's eyebrows rose.

"That's all? Number eleven? Not even in a different language?"

Ritorno shook his head.

"No. Just "Number Eleven"."

He sighed in response.

"And here I was thinking you were number twenty-one."

Ritorno began walking towards him, Vergil aiming Yamato at-

No. It was just his hand.

"What the-"

A scraping sound came from behind him and he whipped around, seeing Ritorno cutting something into a sidewalk.

"I hope you don't mind. It's just the sharpest thing around and I wanted to show you something." He spoke while carving something into the sidewalk with the sword like it was a piece of chalk.

"Forget it. I don't care. Just give it back."

Ritorno shrugged and sighed.

"Alrighty then. Have it your way."

He tossed the sword back casually while turning around.

Except that while in the air it picked up speed and skewered Vergil right through the heart, twisting when it got inside of him as the last of its momentum was spent.

"How the hell did he do that?" He asked himself while trying to pull the sword out of its place.

"There are twenty-one of us. I guess one of them explained that already." Ritorno began as Vergil spat out blood and finally forced the sword out of his body, damaging it more in the process.

"But it isn't as simple as one or _twenty _one being the best. You see, I had an idea some time ago that it would be _chaos _if there were simply twenty one of us running around taking this sword and stealing that one."

"Sword?" He asked while taking his breath.

Ritorno didn't seem to notice it though.

"So I thought "Hey! Let's split everyone up into a _side_! All of the people with Japanese names will be twelve and greater while the people with _Italian _names get ten and less. One side tries to get a sword from _you_, the other tries to get one from _Dante_."

Vergil ran towards Ritorno, slashing out at him.

The black-haired man seemed to scratch the back of his head, but the back of his _hand _blocked Yamato without so much as the skin getting broken.

His eyes widened as Ritorno walked away, not seeming to have noticed.

"But… come to think of it, maybe it _isn't _the two of you."

"What the hell are you talking about?! You don't make any sense."

"It's said that two twins, one taking on red, the other taking on blue, will develop a power that resembles a sword after a catastrophic event that almost destroys the world."

Ritorno turned back to face Vergil, jabbing at him in the air with his fingers.

"That's _you_, crazy-armor. Nero Angelo. Whatever you want to say."

"How did you know about that?"

His "enemy" continued walking around, no particular path set as Vergil kept his guard up, for all the good that would do him.

"We were unable to see if you'd developed your "abilities" from our vantage point so I sent Kuroi to play around with you a bit. At first we thought that it would simply take more time. But perhaps it wasn't _you _two but the other twins…"

Vergil's eyes flared and he lunged over to Ritorno, stabbing out faster than sound could travel.

But suddenly his vision went black and he disappeared into some kind of shadow.

When he could see again, there was a broken fence post sticking out in front of him, which gored itself through his stomach.

"How did he _do _that?!"

"Perhaps…it was _Diva_ and _Saya_ that we were after, not you and Dante."

"You stay the hell away from her." He spat out while tearing himself from the rusted fence-spike.

An amused laugh sounded out at him from across the street as he looked over and saw Ritorno now completely focused on him.

"Only care about the _one _huh? You _are _a selfish bastard aren't you?"

"It looks like we've been wasting our time coming after you. But it's not _all _bad news." He said while pulling the pin from his coat.

"The _good _news…" He began before his grin disappeared and was replaced by a snarl, his eyes now red.

"Is that now I can tear you the hell _apart_!" He yelled, surprising Vergil at how quickly he'd changed moods, almost like they were separate personalities.

"What did I do to you, hm?" Vergil asked him, pretending not to be intimidated.

"Tell me, demon boy, do I remind you of anyone?" He spoke, his eyes looking like they radiated hate of a whole different circle of wrath.

"Sorry. Can't seem to remember."

"Allow me to _remind _you then. I didn't used to have a Latin last name. To be honest, even the true _sound _of it was lost in translation from the original language." Ritorno said as the wind on the street began to pick up.

"Though it's pronounced Gigaika in the language it's in now, the original sounds quite different."

Vergil brought his sword up.

"And what would the original be?"

"The original surname…was Jigoku."

He felt his eyes widen.

"_Vergil, right? Sorry for the little act earlier. But I had to make it believable."_

"_Oh, Vergil. How wonderful to see you again. You aren't following me, are you?"_

"_Your enemy? I thought we were buddies."_

"_You really should find a hobby Vergil. I hear they can be quite relaxing."_

"_Don't worry. He may not be the one to die. I can almost feel how powerful he's become."_

"_How pitiful. I almost feel guilty for having dragged the two of you into this. It seems that just meeting me made things go bad for you."_

"_And I'm supposed to be the bad guy." _

"_It looks like you finally have what it takes to beat me."_

"_Heh. Winner."_

"_Enzeru_ Jigoku was my brother, and _you_ killed him."

He felt his stance struggle for a moment.

"I see." Vergil said.

"And now, _I'm _going to kill _you_. Then I'll wait until that little bitch of yours realizes her power, snatch it from her and throw her into a building filled with psychopaths of a "young-liking" nature. Maybe I'll kill Dante first. I'm not sure."

He felt himself scowl.

"But one thing's for _sure_." He started.

Everything began to blacken, and Vergil wondered what was going on before Ritorno's snarl turned into an insane grin.

The shear atmosphere Ritorno's powers were creating alone were starting to choke the strength out of him

"_You_…are about to die."

"Heh. I wonder if _she'll_ cry."

Vergil swallowed hard while trying to take a step forward, barely managing it from how strong the gravity seemed to be.

"All of us have further powers that you don't even deserve to see. But I'll be lenient, considering you'll only get the chance to see one."

He narrowed his eyes, getting ready to defend or attack at any moment.

"Darken this world and fill it with hate. Make all those with fragile hearts lie prostrate. Envy, Greed, Pride and Wrath… Sloth, Lust, Gluttony and Death… sins of none and sins of all. Let them fill and fuse in this thrall. Make them die away and give them the truth they seek. Show them that in the end they're all just weak!" He declared before the air literally seemed to explode and Vergil had to use all of his senses just to follow Ritorno's movements.

He spotted a sword of some kind before a black hole appeared in the air.

Not taking the chance to learn about the abilities the hard way, Vergil leapt forward and slashed at it, but there was nothing there.

Another one could be heard opening up behind him and he swung even as he twisted...

Something piercing through his stomach as he did so.

It drained the life from him without so much as another attack.

All he could do was stand there, looking into Ritorno's maddened expression.

His hand dropped Yamato, the blade's strength seeming to wane as his own did and he looked up at the sky.

"Div-"

The sword withdrew, and with it the last of his life force.

He fell forwards, not even lasting until his body hit the ground, already lost to darkness.

* * *

"Diva! He said he was going to check things out and that you should stay home!" Saya tried to convince her as they walked along a street she'd never been on before.

"Forget it, we're going to find him." Both of them heard a familiar but unnaturally serious voice speak from behind them.

But she didn't stop walking down the street.

"Dante! Are you sure we should-"

"Yeah."

Despite how desperately she was searching for him, Diva was still smiling, wondering where he was.

As they spotted the devastation in front of them Saya seemed taken aback, but neither Diva nor Dante stopped for a second.

"I'll look over to the right and you can look- hey, Diva? What is it?"

She walked down the street, towards a corpse that seemed to have been fried by lightning or something similar, as its appearance was mostly indescernable.

"What-" He was cut off as his eyes widened, catching a glimpse of something in the corpse's hand.

A katana with a white hilt was clutched in the corpse's hand, which held a very vague tint of blue across most of its body.

The sword was broken.

"There's no way..." He tried to convince himself while standing completely still and gazing at it.

The body, though its skin had faded away, had noticeably light hair where it still remained.

"Diva, don't worry..." Saya tried to convince her.

"I'm sure it's someone else."

"It's...okay."

"Diva?..."

Her smile disappeared, her eyes losing their curious roundness and stretching wide as her mouth trembled.

Something wet rolled off her face and hit the ground...

And then she screamed.


	6. Tears cried

"Diva, just calm down." Saya tried to reason with her before getting batted in the face and sent flying away, caught by Dante as the two looked at the crying girl, who reach over towards a street lamp and ripped it out of the ground before smashing it repeatedly against an abandoned car.

She kept hitting the car with the street lamp, but Saya knew it wasn't making anything easier on her, something Diva seemed to notice herself before throwing it away and screaming again before falling down to her knees and looking at the corpse again, her face covered by her long hair enough that Saya couldn't see her expression.

But she could feel it.

Her sadness was so obvious it was almost visible and Saya felt herself weighed down by the shear amount of it.

The silent mourning of Dante for his brother did not help things.

She didn't know how long the three of them stayed there, Diva crying and Dante acting like he wasn't even alive, standing there like a zombie.

Eventually it began to rain, but neither of them seemed to notice even as their clothes became drenched.

"Diva…" She tried to begin, but was unable to finish her sentence.

Her little sister didn't heed the attempt at a sentence as the rain pattered down on her.

Then something strange happened.

The most important person to her had been killed, in what looked to have been an extremely painful way.

His sword lay broken in his hands which still hadn't relinquished their grip on its hilt. And from the damage to the surrounding area, it looked like it hadn't been a quick death.

This was quite possibly the worst moment Diva had experienced in her life…

And she reached out, taking the broken sword by the hilt and pulling it into her own hand before standing up and closing her eyes, bringing the shattered weapon up to her face.

She stood there like that for several seconds before her expression changed, going from a tear-filled face to a frown with a cold edge behind it.

Then Diva pulled the weapon up through her face and hair, the long black mane temporarily looking combed-back like he had.

And then the hair returned to how it normally was and her hand came back down to her side, the katana gone, replaced by a silver-rapier with a crystal blue rose between the hilt and the blade.

She gazed at it before walking back the way they'd come, holding the sword by her side as if it were a partner in an important mission.

"I want to find where those people are." She told them while reaching the two.

Saya swallowed.

"So you can "play" with them?" She asked.

Diva shook her head.

"No more playing."

"So you can _eat_ them?" Dante asked, seeming capable of speech now.

"No. So I can _kill _them." She said, an icy tone behind her voice that didn't sound like her at all. It sounded like...

"I'm going to kill them like they killed Vergil."

Dante nodded.

"Yeah."

She looked at him.

"How about half for you, half for me?" He offered, his grin still not back.

She stared into his eyes before walking away.

"Fine."

Dante followed after her, Saya spotting a strange weapon in his hand she'd never seen before as the two walked down the street away from her as if she didn't exist.

Quite possibly the only thing that mattered to them now was avenging Vergil's death.

It was strange... despite the fact that she knew those people had killed him she actually pitied them.

They had no idea what hell they were going to face.


	7. Results and blames

"What do you mean you _killed _him?" Nero asked Ritorno as he caught up with the man who was ascending the "ramp" to the upper floor.

Everyone knew about it; how Ritorno had eliminated Vergil simply because he had second thoughts on which of the sets of twins would manifest the power.

The ramp that they were ascending, though true to the definition, was quite the opposite of what you would expect.

It did not only go up a few feet, nor was it straight.

In fact, it was a _curved _ramp that, though it went up to the second story, was, in height and length, three stories tall.

The plush red carpet that covered the whole length of it accented brownish-red wallpaper and the dark oak molding on the bottom.

None of this succeeded in lessening Nero's irritation though.

"_He may be our leader, but that doesn't mean that we'll all blindly follow him. Leader doesn't mean sheep-herder."_

"I wasn't under the impression there was an alternative definition. I killed him, as in stabbed him with my sword and drained the life from him." Ritorno responded, still not losing that grin.

Nero really didn't like that look.

"Don't bullshit me! We both know he wasn't strong enough for you to have to use Mezzagiare to beat him!" He spoke just barely under a yell while grabbing Ritorno's shoulder, causing him to stop as they reached the top of the ramp.

"What I do with my own weapon is not your business. Wouldn't you agree?" The man returned, looking over his shoulder.

"On that issue, yes. But it _is _my business if you kill one of the two people we need before he manifests his powers all in the name of petty revenge."

Ritorno's eyes flared and he back-handed towards Nero, bruising one of the bones in Nero's arms as he tried to block with them.

"Do _not _call that petty. Wouldn't you do the same if someone were to kill Bianco?"

He brought his hands down.

"We're related by blood. That doesn't mean I have an obligation to avenge his death should it come about. You should do something because you _want _to, not because you think you _have _to."

Both noticed someone approaching them and Ritorno's grin and grey eyes returned.

"And that's why I killed him, because I wanted to." He stated before walking over to one of the Nanbas; Knight-class, Kishi, and hearing what he had to report.

Nero had to strain to hear as the two were several yards away but he did manage to hear a few sentences.

"Sir, it seems that both the blue-eyed female twin and red male twin have manifested theirs."

Nero felt his eyes widen slightly, surprised it was opposites from two different pairs.

"I see. Hey, Nero! Did you get all that?" Ritorno asked him, revealing he hadn't been as covert in his listening as he'd thought.

He didn't respond but Ritorno seemed pleased anyway.

"Send either of the pawn-classes to scout out their powers. Seeing as they just manifested them, neither of the two should be adept at using their weapons. Tell whoever you send to come back within two hours. If they aren't we'll just have to assume they're dead."

"But sir, if you only want me to send one, why refer to them as "they"?"

"Because Nero is going to send Avidito there as well. Don't forget, Kishi, the Novertos are going after the blue one. Whether it's the one with short silver hair or long black hair, it doesn't matter. You take red, they take blue."

Kishi nodded before departing the way he'd come, Ritorno not even bothering to come back over to Nero to confirm the orders, instead heading for his room.

"_Sending people like that just to discover an enemy's strength, disregarding whether or not they come back. Ritorno… you manipulative bastard."_

* * *

"I don't get it," Dante began, sitting on a couch looking at his new weapon.

"Where the hell did this thing come from? And how did it just appear?"

Everyone was in the office now, and they all seemed surprised at how quickly Dante had gotten over his twin's demise.

"That's it?" Diva asked him, sitting on the floor with both her sword and arm on it as well.

"Vergil has been dead for less than an hour, and you're already acting like everything is okay?" She finished without any tone of immaturity.

He sighed in response before jabbing the tip of the blade down into the ground.

"Look, he's my brother. Of course I'm not over it already. But he's probably just down in the demon world again punching and kicking his way out. It's no big deal if I just don't see him for a while."

She leapt up from the floor, striking out at him with the rapier.

Dante blocked with his own sword, which resembled the gunblades you would see in a Final Fantasy game.

"Or he's just _dead_! Someone there told me that it only happens once! You die a second time and you're gone for good!"

His expression hardened as she slid her sword off of his, backing away but not lowering the weapon.

"Even if he _is _only trapped in that demon world, does that still mean any less that whoever killed him is his murderer? Doesn't it bother you that he was killed?"

Dante scowled and tightened his grip on the sword.

"I already told you, I'm going to kill them just as much as you are. But going ballistic _now _won't change anything. We'll find out where they all are and then go take it out on _them_, not each other."

Lady didn't have anything to say, her usual "sniping" at what Dante said was absent now, and Saya hadn't really been able to think of what to say. Haji was…Haji.

"Dante's right." She tried to add to the conversation, attempting to calm Diva down before she went into a full-on rage.

"Be quiet Saya!" Her sister returned, showing that Saya's comment had just worsened the situation.

"You're just as responsible for his death as the person who actually stabbed him! Trying to get the two of us to act more human; me not drinking blood anymore and him relying on his human side as opposed to the demon one, _you _killed him too!"

She looked down at the floor.

"And Dante for not taking what Vergil was talking about seriously! And…"

She lost the hatred in her voice, a sad expression replacing the angry one.

"And _me_, for not going after him when I knew I should have."

"It wouldn't have made a difference." Dante offered quietly, trying to make her feel better, no matter how little.

"Maybe…" She relented before walking back to her spot and sitting down again.

"But at least then we would have died _together_."

A minute of silence passed before Dante got up from the couch and walked towards his desk.

"I'll make some calls; see if anyone's heard of these people." He said while picking up the phone.

"You…" He began, referring to Diva, who was lying down now, clutching to the sword.

"You just try and get better."


	8. Gemonia

"Got it!" He declared, waving his hand up in the air to visually show everyone he'd succeeded.

"Right. Yeah, I owe ya one." Dante spoke into the receiver before dropping it back on the hook.

Diva stood up as he walked back over towards everyone and waited for his information.

"A guy just bought an old hotel somewhere in the city a month or so ago. The thing is that the dude on the phone said he got the feeling it was for more than just him. That there was a group with him to."

"How do you know it's him?" Saya asked from hers and Haji's couch.

"Don't. But random guys _buying_ all of old hotels and giving off a "I've got a group with me" vibe aren't really that numerous."

Diva nodded and asked him where the hotel was.

"I've got the directions. I'll show you the way. But you've got to keep that thing out of sight." He said, referring to her rapier.

"You may be able to get away with carrying around guns in public as long as you have a permit, but swords stick out a bit."

She didn't show any signs of compromising.

"The more police we get in our way, the longer it'll take for us to get there." He offered, causing her to relent and reach down through the neck-line of her dress, ripping the stitching out on the inside and sliding the sword down until it mysteriously stayed in place; presumably stuck in the threads.

He shook his head before heading towards the doors of the office.

"Wait, let us come with you." Saya said while standing up from the couch.

"No way. This is _our _fight. It's for _us_. Besides, even if Vergil was weaker than he used to be, he was still strong, as far as most people are concerned. If _he _got killed, so would you."

"But I want to help."

"Just stay here and wait until we get back." Diva said impatiently while trying to pull Dante towards the doors again, not wanting to be held back any longer.

"Okay, okay. Gee, you're acting like we're doing something fun here or-"

He was cut off as the doors blew inwards and were sent off their hinges, flying towards the two of them and the couch Saya occupied.

Dante leapt in front of Diva and cut the one door in half with his new "sword" while Haji brought Saya up into his arms and jumped out of the path of the other, allowing it to crash into the couch.

"Well, well, well. Looks like they do take-out." Dante said more to himself than anyone else as he saw the two figures standing in front of the shop.

Diva got out from behind Dante and lined herself up against one of the two, though she hadn't moved towards them yet.

"Remember the deal." She told him while reaching down the front of her dress, pulling the sword out again.

"Yeah, yeah. I know. That goes for you too." He responded while bringing up the "gunblade" in one hand while gesturing with the other.

"If you kill yours too quickly, you have to stand back and let me get mine."

"I'll let you _finish _it."

"And just what makes you think either of the two of you will be good enough to beat us?" One of them asked.

It was a poorly-dressed man in what resembled slightly-above homeless-level clothes. They were plain and ragged but un-torn clothes. He had brown hair and eyes, and looked average. Nothing special.

The most significant thing about him though was that he was holding a rusted pitchfork in one hand.

"Diva's" one was just a business-suit-wearing jerk-looking guy with sunglasses.

"Well, the fact that our enemies are a hobo with a crappy pitchfork and a lawyer with sunglasses make me pretty confident we can handle it."

The "hobo" guy looked at a small chunk of concrete near his feet and twisted the pitchfork upside down before stabbing it into, and through, the concrete piece; the rusted metal going through the hardened chemical-rock mix like a scalpel through butter.

He lifted the thing up and gazed at it.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you not to judge a book by its cover?" He asked before hurling the thing at him like a lacrosse ball.

Dante brought his sword right in front of his face and allowed it to bisect the thing, letting it fly past him in two pieces and hit things behind him.

"Nope. But she _did _teach me to wash up and to change my clothes." He spoke with a grin.

The man scowled and brought the pitchfork up in front of his face.

"Bail, Chouskiwakare!" He declared before the rusted metal and splintered wooden pitchfork became an immaculate diamond-sheen trident.

"Hm. Well, that certainly _looks _less crappy. Doesn't mean you'll be able to beat me though." He taunted, causing the man to run forward and stab out at him, Dante blocking the attack with his sword only for the trident to twist and throw both him and his sword out of the shop, the man in quick pursuit.

Dante aimed the sword at the man and thrust out, his enemy side-stepping and stabbing with his own weapon, which Dante flipped over and landed on the ground gracefully behind him as he whipped around, bringing the trident up to bear again.

"So that's it, huh? It just get's prettier? I sure hope that isn't all _mine's _got going for it."

He smirked as the trident grew larger and the tip glowed yellow for a moment.

Before Dante could ask what was going on a lightning bolt hurled itself out and struck towards him, the red-clad man just barely able to block with his sword.

Unfortunately, he'd forgotten one key thing; metal conducts electricity.

So though the current was lessened somewhat, he still felt it zap throughout his whole body.

"What do you think _now_ loudmouth?! I am Nanba-ichi-nijuu; Sa-dofu!"

Dante's surprised frown turned upwards into a grin.

"That's a pretty long title. Don't think I'll be able to remember it." He stated while resuming his stance.

"What?! How can you still be unharmed?!" "Sa-dofu" let out.

"Huh? What do you mean? That wasn't supposed to _kill _me, was it?"

Everyone watched as Dante lifted up the weapon and aimed it at Sa-dofu.

"On the _contrary_, buddy. That little jolt, was exactly what I needed."

Sa-dofu, not seeming to be taking any chances, launched two more volleys of lightning-bolts at Dante, who was engulfed in an electric cloud, energy crackling all around him.

However, he didn't seem to notice and when the energy finally dissipated and his enemy was left there agape, Dante's grin widened.

"You just lit up my friggin' light bulb Sa-dofu!" He declared himself while pointing the barrel of the weapon at the trembling man.

"I don't know if my thing's as dramatic as most of everyone else's is, but I'll be willing to deal with it! Kick his ass, Gemonia!" Dante yelled out before the barrel of the weapon began to glow.

The eery light it shone bouncing off Dante's grinning face.

"Personally I hate announcing things like this, but this little bastard is as stubborn as I am, so he won't let me do a damn thing without calling it out. So, Lamigarda!"

The energy erupted from the barrel and blasted towards Sa-dofu, who could only shiver at the energy before it collided with the man, engulfing _him _in a wave of energy.

When the wave dissipated, there was no one- no _thing_ left.

He brought the blade up in front of his face and flicked it in satisfaction before shoving it down through one of the holsters Ebony & Ivory would usually occupy and walking back into the shop, walking by Diva in the process.

"Alright, your turn." He spoke calmly in passing.

A grin teased at her mouth and she brought up her own sword.

"About time."


	9. Know your vocabulary and your partner

"What? I can go now?" The well-dressed man asked, feigning confusion.

"Yes." Diva replied simply.

"Great." He said, walking forward a few steps, his hands in his pockets.

She took a step back.

"What are you doing? Where's your weapon?" She asked as he continued approaching her.

"Huh?"

"Like that other guy. Your weapon. You all have one don't you?"

He stopped his approach and scratched the back of his head.

"I guess you could say that."

She was growing impatient.

"Then bring it out. This won't be enjoyable if I can kill you with one strike.

The man chuckled in response.

"Ha ha. You don't think I'm as weak as that other guy do you? Come on, nanbas suck."

"Just show me your weapon so I can kill you."

He shrugged, pulling a hand out of one of his pockets.

"Okay, here it is!" He declared before opening his hand while pointing it at her, palm facing to the side.

But there wasn't anything in it.

"What are you playing at?" Diva asked him, irritated.

"You don't know how to use that yet, do you?" He asked her, referring to the rapier.

Though she didn't understand why he was asking such a stupid question, she decided to answer, if only to forward this stupid game to its end.

"The tip goes _into_ you or the blade goes _through_ you."

"Do you even know what its name is?"

"It doesn't need one."

"How sad."

"Just shut up and start!" She yelled before running towards him, striking out with her sword.

His grin widened.

"Take it! Eraschemaimer(rose pattern love)!" He said before his out-stretched hand was covered with something and swatted Diva's sword away, almost putting her into a stumble as she passed him, feeling something grab her from behind before whipping around and swinging at him, the lecherous man once-again hitting the blade, though this time he just blocked it.

"What's that?!" She asked, seeming dissapointed as the glove-like things on his hands disappeared.

"Your power is to make your hands hard and grab people as they run by you? The pitchfork person would have been better." She said while readying her sword again.

"What are you talking about?" He asked as the wind blew across the lot in front of the shop, swaying her hair and dress in the breeze.

"That's an ability of _your _sword. Not mine."

Her face tightened, showing her mix of misunderstanding and irritation.

"You don't make any sense." She countered, causing him to chuckle again.

"I already asked you before if you knew the name of your sword. You said you didn't."

She took a step forward, getting ready to attack.

"You can't use the abilities of your weapon unless you know its name, and even then, you have to learn the names of the _attacks _before you can use them."

Diva hesitated, not that interested in his information but curiousas to whyhe was giving it to her.

"_I _though, don't need to know a sword's name in order to use the attacks it has. And aside from one, I can use every single ability your weapon has to offer. _That's my_ weapon."

She scowled and began to attack again.

His grin widened and he brought a hand back behind his head, like he was about to throw a javelin.

"Take it! Erajavelot(rose lance)!" He yelled before a spear-like weapon formed in his hands and he threw it at Diva, who had to force herself to fall back at the last second, the spear cutting through the middle of the neckline of her dress before her back slammed into the pavement

"Ow." She said in a calm voice while rolling her way back up, glancing down at her torn neckline and what it exposed.

"You're wrecking my dress." She told him, un-amused with his antics.

"Eh, you're too old-fashioned." He responded.

"Hey! You keep messing up her dress and she's going to get pissed!" Dante warned him from inside the shop.

"It's too late for that." She said while bringing up her weapon again.

"I don't know how you can use those powers when I can't, and I don't care. You'll run out of powers eventually and I can fight _naked _if that's what it will take to shut you up."

His grin lessened somewhat.

"And I'm willing to bet it's a lot easier for me to replace a _dress _than it is for _you _to replace an _eye_."

"So you're going to fight, even when you're naked huh? I'd like to see that." He spoke unenthusiastically, doubting what she'd said.

His grin widened again.

"Let's put it to the test!"

She ran towards him swinging the sword at his face, which he ducked under before reaching up towards Diva, who barely avoided the attack by sidestepping away.

"What's wrong? I thought you were so determined." He teased.

She hesitated while trying to guess how to attack him right.

"You know, you're really a lot different than I'd thought you would be. Rumor was you were always smiling and chomping on people and doing whatever you wanted. Now you're wearing that frown, gotten your fangs all but torn out and don't even do as you wish. It's like you're trying to be that demon guy now."

His hand came up again.

"You've gotten _lame_, babe. Take it! Erebrise(rose breeze)!" The man said before swiping his hand through the air and sending what looked like flower petals towards her.

She swiped at the things, but whenever the blade was going to hit one of them the wind seemed to carry it out of the way.

The petals floated and slid around her, tearing heard as she gave up trying to cut them down and grabbed at the things.

As her free hand finally caught one however, they all disappeared and she noticed that his hand was still in the air.

"Heh."

He snapped his fingers and her dress fell apart, causing her to flash down to the ground just to stay covered in them.

"Knew it! You've gotten _way _too soft!" He laughed out as she glared up at him.

"You aren't even worth teasing with anymore. Take it! Erejavelot!"

Once again he brought his hand back and threw the spear that appeared within it at Diva, who's sword was stuck in the threads of the dress.

"Protect her." Both of them heard as something zipped past him and the lance hit something in mid-air that caused it to dissipate, showing a "Diva" with shorter hair, red eyes, different intact clothes and a Nihonto katana with a _red _crystal flower at the base of its blade.

"Ru-kui-in(Red queen)." She finished.

* * *

I apologize for the... well, suggestive theme of the chapter. I'm not sure where it came from. I think I just wanted the enemy to have a way to beat Diva without having to fight her for ten days, draining her blood. Also, I decided to give a translation of the attacks when they're first said so people know what they mean, if they care. I know it was a short chapter but another one will be up soon.


	10. Saya's power & the bandaged man in black

"Ah, so the short-haired one butts in huh? Such stubborn, tenaciouslittle girls aren't you?" He teased, Saya not responding while stepping forward.

"Diva…" She began.

"Let me take care of this. There will always be others for you to fight."

"But-"

"Don't argue with me right now. Besides, you can't continue fighting like that can you?" She asked, not looking back.

Diva didn't respond but Saya knew she understood.

"What're you two chick-chatting about over there?" He asked while taking a step forward.

Saya stiffened her stance, ready for any attack the man could send towards her.

"I'm your opponent now. Leave her alone."

He rose his hand again.

"What? No threesome? Okay then, I'll play with you for now."

"No. I'm going to be your only and last opponent." She said before aiming her sword at him, but snappingthe blade to face upwards and bringing a hand out towards it, pressing a thumb on the intricate weapon.

"Oh? You a masochist? Sorry to tell you, but that blood thing isn't going to do jack to me. I'm not one of those bat-"

A crimson crescent flew past his head even as she said the attack's name, his grin disappearing.

"I told you, I am your only opponent, and I am going to defeat you. You may be able to beat Diva because she doesn't know the name of her sword, but you _can't _beat someone who knows their powers."

A bead of sweat ran down his brow.

"From your reaction, I'd be willing to bet that your attacks, the ones that you steal from your opponent, are not as strong as the original ones."

His hands tightened into fists.

"Shut up."

"And, the more attacks you announce, the quicker _I _will discover them."

"Be quiet you little bitch!" He yelled before swiping his hand through the air.

"Take it! Chiwangetsu(blood crescent)!" The man yelled before performing the same attack, sending it at Saya.

However, she didn't dodge it and only stood there in place before returning with her own attack of the same kind.

The two met in mid-air and seemed to form into a sphere until they splashed and fell to the ground, dissolving the concrete with their acid-like blood composition.

Before he could react, she followed up with another attack, making him do it again as the crescent approached him, the weaker version holding back her attack long enough for him to dive out of the way and crash into the ground, getting his previousyl pristine business-suit messed up and causing his sunglasses to shake in their frames.

"Damn! Damn!" He yelled before struggling up to his feet.

"You think my only power is to use my hand to launch an attack?! You're _missing_ something you stupid girl! I've got _two _hands! You've only got _one _sword!"

Her stance didn't falter in the least.

"Fine! Eat it! Chiwangetsu!" He announced again as the attack flew towards her, this time aimed at her head.

But they would not longer hit Diva if she were to dodge them, so Saya rolled out of the way, bruising her exposed shoulder in the process, before performing her stronger version of the attack and forcing him to use both hands just to stop it.

"Ha! You won't be able to keep this up forever!"

She stood up, aiming the sword at him.

"Perhaps. But neither will you."

"What's that?" He asked with a scowl.

"I can tell; my attacks drain the blood from my body. Which means that _copying _them must make the requirements for _you _to be the same."

Her sword raised itself up again.

"But Ru-Kui-n has _another_ ability; Chihanran(blood overflowing) that causes my body to produce blood cells at a more rapid rate than normal. In other words…Chiwangetsu!"

Again they both used their attacks, which cancelled each other out.

But this time Saya was perfectly still, while the man was heaving, his skin pale now.

"...If we continue fighting as we are now, you will eventually run out of blood. And because the powers you stealmust manifest from your hands, you can't use chihanran to counteract my advantage."

His legs wobbled.

"You've already lost." She stated before sliding her whole hand along the blade and beginning a volley of chiwangetsu's, which the man had to stop by performing the same attack twicehimself per the original ones that Saya had sent towards him.

The whole area was engulfed in crimson-colored light as they continued sending the attacks at each other, until at twenty-two salvos, Saya stopped.

For Saya and her enhanced blood-producing ability, it had felt like only five of the attacks had been used. And only the tips of her fingers showed any signs of being pale.

For _him_, however, the number of attacks he had used, fourty-four, had every much of an effect as they should.

He was now completely pale, with dry skin and visible arteries.

"Damn you, you…witch." He spoke with a noticeably raspy voice before falling face-first to the ground, not getting back up.

Saya hit the air with her sword, sending the remaining blood off of it, before allowingthe swordto return to its sealed form; a red rose, which she putin one of her pockets.

Then sheturned around and walked back over to Diva.

"Come on, let's get you something new to wear." She said while helping Diva up and assisting in holding the dress together at the same time.

"Thank you." Her little sister said, a strange accent to the way she said it showing that it was a rarely spoken phrase from her mouth.

As they began to turn back towards the shop entrance, however, an old-sounding laugh broke out from the fallen business-suited man.

"You think this as all I've got?! Don't forget, babe! I can use _anyone's _powers!" He declared before rolling over, facing Dante, andtwisting around again,struggling up to a knee.

"**Take it**! Lamicanhao!(blade cannon)" He yelled as significantly larger spheres of energy from Dante's previous attack formed in front of both of his hands, splaying unnatural light across the dark area.

"This is what a _true_ user can do! I am Novero-due! Avidito! Die!"

The energy faded, and prepared to fire.

"Go to hel-"

A loud, thick slice sounded out as two things flew up into the air, followed by a liquid trail of red,before descending back to the ground and landing with a loud thunk.

The two old hands twitched and Avidito's sunglasses fell from his eyes, showing the first truly surprised expression he'd shown since his introduction.

"How… did you-"

Another slice sounded out, and another thing was sent into the air.

When _it _landed, however, the thing in question was a head, its mouth agape.

The remains of the body collapsed, attention drawn to another's, its executioner.

The sword, resembling a katana and yet longer than it, was sheathed. And a man in a jet-black suit with a red tie and bandages covering his head, hands and any other exposed skin, allowed two eyes topeer out through slits in them.

The man's breath could be seen coming outthrough another spacein thebandages despite the night not being very cold, and he walked over to the twin girls.

"Are you okay?" He asked neither one in particular.

Saya was the only one able to answer, though it wasn't a response to his question.

"Who are you?" She questioned the man with the smooth, but troubled voice.

"My name is Nero. That's all you need to know about me for now."


	11. Black wisdom or black deception?

"So who are you again?" Dante asked the man, who was the only one standing, everyone else was either sitting down or leaning against something.

"I told you before; my name is Nero."

"And you helped us out…why?" He continued, obviously not believing the man was on their side.

Saya wasn't sure what she believed. But if he was the enemy there wouldn't have been any point in killing one of his own men. At least not when he was in a position to kill them.

"Those weapons that you manifested are called "Reiketas". Or at the very least, that's the most modern translation. In Japanese of course." He responded, not regarding Dante's question.

"How come it's in Japanese?" Lady asked before Dante could say what he thought, tired of never being involved in any conversations.

"I'm not sure." He said while taking a few steps in a random direction.

"Ritorno is the only one who knows all of the history of the reiketas and why it is that they are needed."

"Ritorno?" Saya asked as Diva came back into the room, wearing a new dress and still holding her sword.

"Ritorno Gikaika. Or, originally…" He continued as Diva walked over to where Saya was.

"Ritorno Jigoku."

She stopped in her tracks before turning towards him.

"Jigoku?" She asked, still showing signs of being surprised.

"What is it Diva? You know someone by that tag or something?" Dante asked from atop his desk.

She nodded.

"You must also know then, that is was _Vergil _who _killed _him." Nero stated, looking exclusively at her now.

"Yes." She said, sitting down on the couch with Saya and Haji.

Nero stood there a few moments, not speaking.

Then, when he did, it was blunt.

"Ritorno is the man who killed Vergil."

Diva's gaze snapped up to Nero. As did Dante's.

"You're sure about that?" He asked the bandaged man.

Nero nodded.

"So…" Diva said to herself while twisting the sword, which had its tip down in the floor now.

"Ritorno."

Saya put a hand on one of Diva's but she didn't seem to notice.

"Most likely, it was out of a sort of sibling revenge." Nero went on while walking over to the entrance to the shop, making sure no one was coming.

"And now you two wish to kill _Ritorno _for killing _Vergil_." He said to himself before turning back towards them, his eyes not reflecting a single prevalent emotion.

"In any case, Ritorno will surely know what happened here. To an extent anyway. He will at the very least know that the two he sent here are dead. Whether this means his next attack on you will be stronger, swifter, or changed at all is something I am unsure of."

Dante leaned forward.

"How do you know all this stuff?" He questioned the man that he evidently still didn't trust.

Nero didn't show any signs of agitation as he answered.

"I can't tell you that now."

"Why?"

"Because people may be watching that could jeopardize this whole situation."

"And what situation would that be?" Dante asked him while sliding himself off the desk.

Nero gazed at him for a few moments before walking over to the couch Diva and Saya sat upon and kneeling in front of it.

"I am here to serve you." He said while looking into Saya's now wide eyes.

"W- what?" She stumbled out, confused at what was going on.

"A very long time ago, when you were nearing your thirty-year sleep, several humans attempted to attack you. I happened to be passing by and, taking you as simply a young girl in distress, rescued you."

She blinked in confusion, still not sure what he was talking about.

"However, I was very badly wounded during the battle and I was bleeding to death. So, before you went to sleep, you gave me some of your blood. After I died, I was reborn, as your Chevalier."

"I do not recall such a thing." Haji spoke, noticeably upset, despite his monotone expression.

"It was one of the rare times when you were not by her side. In any case, I at first wandered away, unsure of what had happened to me. At first I waited. After all, while I did not know what had happened I thought that you would surely wake up soon. When you did not, I wandered around, finding out what had happened to me, discovering what I had become, and the history of chiropterans. After I'd heard that you woke up, I sought you out. But every time I tried to find you I was one step behind. Until we met in the metropolitan opera house, in New York."

Saya shook her head, looking down at the ground, not noticing that Diva was all-but curled up.

"I'm not surprised you don't remember. I was pushed out of the theater by everyone else as your battle began. And when I wanted to go back in, I realized that the fight was between you two alone. It was not my place to interfere."

A few more seconds passed before he stood up again.

"I realized that at the very center of my soul the way that I felt was lonely."

Everyone looked at him with a deeper expression, except for Diva.

"It was then that this weapon appeared in my hand." He said, holding up the sword in its sheath.

"This has been the closest thingI've hadto a friend since I was a human being."

After another second he lowered the weapon again and looked at the two queens.

"When you discover what it is that you truly exist for at the moment, that is when you can discover your Reiketa, your soul sword."

Saya looked at the red rose in her pocket.

"When you were able to discover that weapon, you realized that what you wanted at that moment was an unyielding and unbending desire to protect your sister."

Now Diva looked up at him as well, not showing any surprise but obviously not having been expecting such a statement.

"While you…" He said while looking into her eyes.

"When you manifested that sword it was because of your sadness. The emotion that lied beneath all the laughter and blood-drinking."

Diva felt the looks at her and tried to pretend no one was there, embarrassed for some reason.

"But it seems that you aren't willing to accept that yet, which is why you can't call upon the true powers of your weapon." He said while taking steps away from everyone.

"How about me?" Dante asked, feeling left out.

Nero glanced back him, not giving the man much regard.

"I'm not sure what it is that you feel." He said before turning back towards Diva.

"However, if you are doing this out of revenge for the man that you care about." Nero began, looking at the now-smooth sides of her hair and the way that it looked combed back more, despite it was more or less the same style.

His eyes gazed at her and Saya began to wonder what he was really thinking.

"I believe he would find it insulting that you would change like this."

Diva's eyes flared and she tried to jump off the couch, only held back by Saya.

"What makes you think you know who Vergil was?!" She yelled at him, one of the few moments where she was actually in a full-blown rage as opposed to just a tantrum.

He still showed no signs of irritation and just stared at her.

"Only what I heard. But from what I know, he was a man who disliked compromise. And… that he was very stubborn as well."

Diva had stopped trying to get to him, though she was still noticeably irritated.

"I do not think he would have liked for the person he cared the most about to change the way she was over his death. I think he would have liked for you to stay the same."

Her expression became hollow and she let herself fall back onto the couch with Saya.

Nero turned away, towards the entrance.

"My apologies. I didn't mean to intrude on your personal affairs. But what you feel and what you think…have a direct effect on the strength of your weapons."

He turned his head, looking at Saya.

"The location that you discovered was the correct one. Everyone is there. Only those with soul swords should come. It is too dangerous for anyone else. Whether they be human or otherwise."

Saya stared at him, wondering if he was who he said he was, or if this was all an elaborate trap.

"Still, he knows about chiropterans, and about our past. To an extent." She thought to herself while trying to make Diva feel better.

"I will be there when you arrive. We can discuss this in greater detail then."

She blinked, and he was gone.

Not so much as a shoeprint or a smell was left behind. It was as if he were a ghost.

"Maybe he is. Who knows." Saya thought to herself, wondering if Nero was their ally, or just a very well-disguised enemy.


	12. Den of Devils

"And we're trusting this guy…why?" Dante asked as they walked down the final street to the old hotel that supposedly was the hideout of the people who had killed Vergil.

"Because he gave us too much information for us not to. Besides, even if he _isn't _an ally and his story about being my chevalier was false, we at least know that the place where they are hiding out is in fact that hotel." Saya responded, making sure the red rose was still firmly in her pocket.

Diva had managed to compress her weapon into a rose as well, though it was blue as opposed to red, and was tucked down the neckline of her shirt as opposed to in a pocket, as she had none.

It was strange, but they hadn't heard any sirens or anything since that one area was destroyed in the city.

Considering how much damage was done to it, he would have expected for it to be the ultimate center of attention. A lot of people had been killed after all. It wasn't just property damage.

"Eh, what does it matter?" He thought to himself while continuing to walk along, Gemonia hidden under his coat.

Granted, if police saw them walking along like this it wouldn't matter if their weapons were visible or not, they would definitely look suspicious.

"And with Diva still acting kind of weird, I'm not sure how she'd react to them if they tried to bring us in. Hell, I'm not sure how _I'd _react."

It was true; Dante tried not to think about it, but he knew that if anyone got in his way now that he was aware who had killed his brother, there wouldn't be a damn thing he wouldn't do to them to make them move.

"I just hope that guy isn't leading us into trap." He continued contemplating as the street turned left and they began to turn with it, coming face-to-face with the front parking lot of the old hotel.

The size of it was definitely bigger than any normal homes. It was even bigger than Dante's whole building from what he could see from the front. But it wasn't like the Marriot or anything.

The parking lot wasn't that much bigger than a small shop's exclusive one and the design of the building showed its age.

That was another thing, the outside of the building didn't even have any modifications to it.

Getting things remodeled could take quite some time, especially if it was a place as big as this. But there wasn't so much as a ladder or bucket of paint as they walked across the parking lot, towards the half a dozen steps that led up to the double-door entrance.

There were tall old-style street-lamps scattered around the edge of the parking lot, with two standing to either side of the steps.

As most old buildings did, the doors were made of fine-quality and sturdy-looking wood, with a finish on it that still remained somewhat despite how aged it was.

"Don't see any lights on. The windows aren't boarded up though." He examined while taking the last few steps towards the stairs.

When all of the street lamps suddenly flashed on.

He grabbed onto Gemonia from under his coat and twisted around, looking back the way they'd come.

But there wasn't anyone there.

"Don't worry, it's just the automated turn on time for the lights." A familiar voice said from behind him.

He turned around and saw the black-clad man in bandages standing at the top of the steps.

Diva and Saya didn't show that much surprise, but that was probably because they had expected hundreds of people to rush towards them and begin an attack.

"Well, if it isn't the man who puts everyone in stitches." He joked as Nero descended the steps and walked over to them.

"I'm glad you decided to come." He spoke as if Dante hadn't said anything.

"You know, you're acting like you're so helpful and everything. But you keep ignoring me like an absolute-"

"Are you ready to enter?" Nero asked them.

Dante grumbled something to himself before nodding.

The other two showed they were ready as well, but before he could turn around all the way Dante spoke up again.

"But I want to know something." He said seriously, seeming to gain Nero's attention for the first time since they met.

"How many people are we going to have to fight?"

Nero gazed at him through the folds in the bandages.

"We can take anything they're going to throw at us. But I still want to know who I'm dealing with."

The eyes continued to gaze at him before they blinked.

"I'm not sure. All I know is that there are- _were_, twenty one of them. The two you killed reduces that number to nineteen. Half are after Saya's weapon, the others after Diva's."

"Why?"

"I don't know."

Dante rubbed his nose as Nero once again walked away, up the steps.

"The guys we killed…how strong were they?"

He didn't even turn around as he responded, Diva and Saya following him.

"The lecherous one, the novero. The bottom seven of those are all the weakest. He was among them. The pawn-class, the nanba. He was one of the two-weakest of the "upper" set."

"The weakest? I could've guessed the pitchfork guy was crappy but that other one?"

Nero pushed open the doors as Dante began to follow up after them.

"The strongest don't need to copy another's powers. They have their own."

The doors had led to a medium-length, medium-sized hallway. Though there were only two paintings along the walls, and the only doors were the ones opposite the entrance.

Grey walls didn't do much to increase the atmosphere and Dante began to wonder if this was really the place.

"Ritorno is stronger than all of them combined though. It's said that if he takes a fight seriously, simply getting _touched_ by his sword is enough to spell death for his enemies."

"He killed Vergil. Right?" Diva asked, breaking Dante's momentum in the conversation.

Nero turned back towards her as they reached the doors.

"Yes." He replied simply, looking into Diva's eyes.

A small grin formed on her face, revealing the very faintest return of her old personality.

"That's all I need to know to kill him." She responded, touching the blue rose stuck in her neckline like no one was there.

"Just be careful, Diva." Saya tried to warn her.

"Come to think of it, Nero, are you human too?" Dante asked him, the group still not proceeding to the next room in case there were enemies within.

"Why do you wish to know?" He asked plainly.

"Those other two were strong, but they were human. All it took was one good attack and they were gone. I was wondering if it was the same for you."

"To see if I am one of them?"

"Maybe."

"It would take more than a simple cut to kill me. But _everyone _can be _killed_. You included."

Dante scratched his chin.

"Yeah…well I haven't seen someone yet who's got what it takes."

"Nero, please." Saya asked him, wanting their exchange to end.

"If that's what you wish." He responded while turning back towards the doors, his hands freezing on the handles.

"Remember one thing, Dante." Nero said while looking over his shoulder.

"These aren't demons. These are _devils_."

Before Dante could answer, Nero opened the doors, and they were enveloped in the light of the room.


	13. Painful switches

"Shit." Dante said to himself as he saw an extensively-long table with twenty one chairs stretched along the length of it, a single one positioned on the end opposite them.

The whole room was massive, like a king or queen's ballroom. Two carpeted ramps led up through walls to what seemed like a second floor, a balcony was stationed opposite the doors they'd just entered from, easily three stories above them.

There was also a single door a yard or two behind the single chair at the one end of the table.

"Finally made it I see." Someone said from behind the long drapes up on the balcony.

They all looked up to it, a man with long black hair and an equally-black coat with a white collar walked out from behind the fabric-cover and grinned down at him.

"Who the hell is this guy Nero?" Dante asked him, his hand already underneath his coat, holding Gemonia.

The man's eyes seemed to widen slightly, though he never lost his grin.

"Nero? I see." He spoke, seeming amused.

"Number eleven; Ritorno Jigoku." Nero responded.

He felt his heart slam against his ribcage, as if the organ itself wanted to go after the bastard.

"Gikaika now, but I'll let it slide." Ritorno returned before Dante tore Gemonia out of his coat and aimed it at him.

"I don't give a shit_ what_ your last name is! Lamigarda!" Energy gathered in front of the barrel of the weapon and fired at Ritorno, enveloping him in an energy cloud much like it had that other guy before.

But unlike last time, when the cloud dissipated Ritorno was still standing. And unharmed.

"Heh. As if a guy who just discovered his powers could kill me with one hit." He mused.

Diva pulled the blue rose out of the neckline of her shirt, with Saya doing the same with the red one in her pocket.

"Now, now. No need to give them to me already." Ritorno said before snapping his fingers; over a dozen figures leapt off the balcony from behind him on both sides.

They all landed in the chairs that stretched across the table without a sound, except for one, who weighed so much it was impossible not to make the floor shake.

A moment later Ritorno himself flipped off the balcony and landed in the chair positioned at the end of the table.

"What the hell? There's _three _empty chairs? Did Vergil kill one?" Dante thought while lowering Gemonia to once again aim at Ritorno, though he didn't attack this time.

"Glad you could join us tonight. Though you're a bit late for dinner."

"That's okay, I brought my own beat-your-ass salad that _everyone _can enjoy."

Ritorno laughed in response, raising a leg and laying it on top of the table, the sloppy table-manners contrasting the royal look of the place.

"What the hell do I care whether he's miss manners or not? I'm going to kill him all the same." Dante thought .

The roses turned into swords and the two sisters stood there, ready should anyone attack them, Diva's eyes fixed on Ritorno.

An awkward silence followed before Ritorno spoke up again.

"Come to think of it, I don't want to finish this too quickly. Things just aren't as much fun if they're over in an instant. Don't you think?" He asked the group in general.

"Besides, it won't be all that entertaining to see you get butchered so quickly. So we'll take it a bit easy on you for now. Volutta! Kanfu!"

Two people stood up from their chairs, a woman and a man resembling the guy with the pitchfork.

Ritorno raised a hand and snapped his fingers, and the lights went out.

"Great. Now we've got to fight these people in the _dark_." Dante thought himself before the lights snapped back on again, everyone gone except for the two who had stood up before and Ritorno, who was now up on the balcony again.

"I'll have to stay and watch you fight some other time. I'm afraid right now I have to go have a little chat with one of my subordinates."

"Don't think so." Diva remarked while jumping up onto the table before flashing across the gigantic room, heading straight for Ritorno.

As she struck out, however, some kind of portal or shadow, he couldn't tell which, appeared and Dante felt someone stumble into him from behind.

Glancing over his shoulder, he saw that it was her, looking as surprised as he felt.

"That's _swell_. He can teleport people around. Oh yeah, he's going to be a fair fighter." Dante actually thought out loud.

"Volutta! Kanfu! Make sure to bring me their weapons when you kill them." He commanded them before they nodded, the two walking along their respective sides of the table before reaching the end closest to Dante's group.

"Enjoy." He all-but-sang down to them before pushing the drapes of the balcony aside and walking out of sight.

Nero took a step forward, seeming anxious for the first time since Dante had met him.

"I'm going to go after him. I'll come back afterwards." He said before dashing away, disappearing the second Dante blinked.

"Wait! Nero!" Saya called after him, everyone knowing he was already gone.

"Yay! Super-useful-man decided to run off! How courageous of the valiant soldier!" Dante declared sarcastically in his head as Diva walked out past him, once again taking her place at Saya's side.

"I'll take the chick. You two can take that other guy." Dante said while separating from them.

Diva seemed reluctant to let someone else fight an enemy with her, but conceded.

"So then, should we get started?" The woman teased Dante, making him grin and walk forward.

As he did so, a bang of hair fell into his eye and he pushed it away, blinking it-

-and seeing that the woman had become a completely different person; several "features" added from the last time.

His eyes widened and his grin stretched into a satisfied smile as he took another step forward.

"What a ba- ba -babe!" He declared before Saya sighed and stepped in front of him.

"Hey! What're you doing?" He asked her like they were fighting over a cereal box in the morning.

"I don't think you would be able to fight as well as you normally can. I'll defeat her."

"But… cooking oil, and whipped _cream_!" He protested before Saya sighed again and took another step towards the woman, seeming to do her best to keep him from looking at the girl any longer.

He looked over at Diva, who wasn't going to help him at all.

Then he did a very immature pout and walked away, slamming his back against a wall while sliding Gemonia back underneath his coat, crossing his arms and waiting for this to be over with.

* * *

"Sorry about that." Saya apologized casually while lifting her sword up to a battle stance.

The woman, who had now returned to her original look, was grinning in what looked like satisfaction as she responded.

"Want me for yourself, do you?" She teased, Saya not playing along with the game.

"Dante wasn't a suitable opponent for you, considering his weakness. I hope you don't mind fighting _me _instead."

She thought she heard him complain though Saya had learned by now to try and tune him out.

The woman shook her head.

Her hair was long and somewhat curly and her eyes seemed to be such an exotic blue they almost appeared to be purple.

The dress she wore seemed to be made of some kind of expensive fabric, yet looked…

"What's with the sex theme of you guys? If you don't mind my asking." She inquired, temporarily acting more like Dante than her usual serious self.

One of the woman's, Volutta's, eyebrows lifted as she reached down the front of her dress and pulled out what looked like a whip.

"You met Avidito I see." She quipped while pulling the full length of the weapon out.

Saya took another step forward.

"He was hurting and humiliating my sister."

Volutta shrugged.

"There's only two of us if it makes you feel any better."

Saya's hands tightened on the grip of her sword before she lunged forward and cut downwards towards Volutta's head.

At the last second the woman hopped out of the way and snapped the whip at her.

She blocked it with her sword, but almost had it torn from her grasp as Volutta pulled on the whip and brought both of them closer.

Then she lifted the dress up above her knee and kicked out with a high-heeled shoe, letting the dress fall back down into place as Saya managed to free her sword from the whip and retreat, a bruise on her skin and on her cheek-bone healing as she brought up her weapon again.

"It seems you've got some endurance." She spoke while caressing the whip.

"Why don't we find out how much?" Volutta asked before snapping the whip out again, catching the shoulder of Saya's shirt as she dodged it.

"Don't be shy." She said while attacking again and again with the whip, not giving Saya any chance to move forward and attack.

They almost seemed to be in a choreographed dance as Saya continued to dodge the whip's lashes and Volutta twisted and turned while performing various unorthodox-looking attacks.

When it was obvious that Volutta wasn't going to stop anytime soon Saya took an extra-long hop backwards and slid her hand across Ru-kui-n's blade.

Volutta's grin widened into a smirk as Saya began to send a crescent of crimson towards her.

As she did, though, Volutta succeeded in hitting Saya in the chest with the whip, and her senses were drowned out by the pain she felt.

Saya dropped her sword, and fell to her knees while gripping the spot where the whip had hit her.

"What is- ah- going on?" She asked herself, staring at the healed wound which still hurt more than anything she'd every felt.

Volutta chuckled and Saya managed to force her head up to look at her.

"Ardoretortura. That's the name of my weapon. Do you know what its power is, honey?" She teased as Saya tried in vain to reach out and take hold of the sword.

"Penafavore(pain pleasure). It makes any hit you take feel like you just got splashed with magma."

She struck out with the whip again, this time hitting Saya in the waist, making her fall face-first to the floor, gripping both spots that had healed yet still held her in agony.

"I take it, from your bondage to the floor, that you aren't used to hardcore pain." She said while bringing the whip back behind her again, preparing another strike.

Saya looked down at the floor, wondering what she was going to do.

Dante wouldn't be able to beat her if he was too busy drooling over her, and Diva was going to fight that other guy.

"But I don't have my sword." She thought to herself while once again failing to reach the weapon.

Saya rolled away from another lash before Volutta casually walked over to her and lifted up the end of the whip, revealing there was a small blade in it.

Before she could get away again one of the hard shoes stamped dowon on her stomach and held her still.

She moved the blade into position over Saya's eyes, which widened when they saw what the blade was going to hit next.

Volutta's grin turned into a smirk as she rose the blade-

-and was hit by something, sent flying over into a wall.

Saya blinked when she realized that her eyes had just been saved from being stabbed out.

What at first looked to her like a flowing white cape, soon revealed to be a dress, told her who it was.

She was unaccustomed to being on the same side as Diva, but if it hadn't been for her little sister…

"Thank you, Diva." She managed out while struggling to get up.

"I'll fight her." Her twin responded before extending a foot forward and pulling Saya's sword back behind her so she could reach it again.

"You can beat someone later. Dante." She said, not looking away from Volutta who had gotten up and was patting down her dress to get the wrinkles out as if she'd simply tripped and fallen down.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll take care of the other guy after you put down queen-slutty."

"'Queen slutty'? My, my. What a rude way to address a lady." She spoke while coming back over to them.

Saya picked up her sword and got her legs under her, pushing off the ground a few times before making it up, the normally simple process feeling like she was just learning it.

After that she backed away, making it over to Dante before relaxing.

"If making someone hurt is the only thing that whip can do, then Diva might as well have already won." She thought out loud.

"Why's that?" Dante inquired while cracking his back.

"She's been through things… I only heard a little when we first met but, it was enough."

"Good for her, then. This shouldn't be a problem." He said densely.

Saya glanced over to him for a second before returning her gaze to Diva's back.

"No. Diva may win, but that doesn't mean it's a good thing she's been through all that."

"Eh, whatever. She'll win. That's all that matters, right?"

"…I guess. I suppose it's just _why _she is going to win that bothers me."


	14. Blood out, blood in

"That wasn't very nice now, little girl." The woman teased her while walking back over to them.

"I play a little rough, I guess." She spoke with a shrug, her grin still much smaller than her normal smile.

Volutta's high-heels clattered on the marble floor as she made sure the pricey shoes weren't stained.

"That's okay." She said before winding the whip up along her free arm while holding its base in the other's hand.

"I like it when people treat me rough." She said before tugging on the whip, causing the thing to rapidly slide and spiral off her arm, the bladed-tip snapping at her with extra momentum.

Diva barely side-stepped the thing, the whip grazing the surface of the top of her dress and she pulled up her sword and pushed off the ground with a foot, stabbing out with a natural arc at Volutta, confusing her enough that when she back-stepped away from the attack that she had no footing.

Seeing this, Diva leapt forward and slashed out with her sword, causing Volutta to once again dodge the attack, this time by allowing herself to fall to the floor.

However, there was nowhere else for her to run, and Diva stepped on her chest while raising her sword.

"Hmm. I remember seeing something like this happen before… _somewhere_…" She said, referring to what Volutta had done to Saya only a few minutes ago.

But the scowl Volutta held was soon replaced by a smirk again as a snapping sound could be heard and her whip curled around Diva's torso and arms at the same time from behind, pulling both together and making the sword unusable as Volutta slid her way out from under Diva's foot and curled the whip around her several more times to keep the struggling girl from getting free.

"That's not- erg- nice." She said while straining against her leather captor.

Volutta trailed a hand along Diva's shoulders while walking around her, coiling another "layer" over her from the whip, before coming face to face with her.

Diva's head lurched forward, trying to bite into Volutta's neck, but the woman stepped out of her path and waved a finger.

"Ah, ah! No biting." She said before the hand snapped to Diva's chin and held it still, her last means of attacking now held immobile.

Volutta leaned in, looking at Diva's neck as her head moved, positioning itself near the side of her neck.

"I'm curious, how long has it been since you 'sunk your teeth in'?" Volutta asked her while breathing on her neck, making her feel strange for some reason.

"A while." She responded simply, never giving up trying to get out of the web of leather.

"Why did you stop?" The woman asked while tightening the whip's hold on her, brush-burns momentarily put into her skin.

"Vergil made me promise I would." She returned, managing to get a pinky free, working on another digit.

"I see."

Volutta pulled on Diva's chin; turning her head away and causing the carotid artery to stand out on the side of her neck.

"How about I do it _for _you then?" She asked before biting into it.

Diva's jaw clenched as she momentarily struggled harder.

As the seconds went on, though, her resistance gradually decreased until she became perfectly still, doing all that she could just to remain standing.

Volutta's head came away from the wound, which struggled to heal itself due to lack of blood, and stepped back.

"There, isn't that better?" She asked, licking a drop from the side of her mouth.

Diva couldn't answer, her control over arms and legs that almost felt like they weren't hers were spasms at best.

"Don't feel like answering, hm? Okay. I Guess it's time to bring this to its climax." She said, pulling the whip tighter against Diva's body, straining heard coming from her bones.

Her head fell forward and she couldn't keep her grip on her sword.

"I'm sorry." She whispered out, causing Volutta to lean in closer.

"What was that?" The woman asked, her grin lessening but still present.

"I hope you won't be upset with me if I let it slip just this one little time."

"Hey, what're you up to?" Volutta asked before Diva's head came back up, no scowl present.

In place of it was a suppressed, but satisfied smile, her eyes glowing blue and no sign of pain or strain on her face.

The woman's grin disappeared as Diva's own smile deepened and she allowed herself to fall forward, right into Volutta.

They landed on the ground, the girl's head beneath the woman's, at her neck.

The seconds dragged on as her blood was returned, and one of her harms pulled itself out of the bind the whip had placed on it, snapping the leather in the process before the other arm did the same.

Her hands moved, one to Volutta's shoulder, the other one behind her head, and held her still as the tips of her own toes and fingers regained their feeling.

A minute later she withdrew from the near-bloodless woman and pulled her sword out from the now-tangled mass of leather, standing up.

"I prefer boys." She said while lifting the sword up and gazing at its blade curiously like she'd never seen it before.

"Their blood's thicker, it fills me up quicker." Diva spoke before shrugging.

"But I guess it doesn't matter, since I can't do this again anyway." She innocently joked to herself before the tip leveled down and aimed at Volutta's heart.

"I know this is cheating. Please keep it a secret. Okay?" She asked before the sword slid through the air and penetrated the woman's heart, causing her eyes to flare before loosening, staring out with a blank gaze.

A second later she withdrew the weapon and brought the tip up her mouth, looking around as if checking to see if anyone was nearby before licking the blood off the blade like it was a lollipop.

"Mm. Yummy." She spoke before the blade seemed to glow and she sighed, her smile once again becoming more suppressed.

"Yes, yes. I know. That was the last time. Promise." She spoke before the blade shrunk back down to a blue rose and she placed it in the neckline of her shirt.

Her head looked over at the table and she walked over it, pulling out Volutta's chair and sitting down in it before leaning forward onto the table and closing her eyes.

"Okay, your turn now." She spoke dismissively over to Dante before drifting off to sleep.


	15. Working and fighting

"Diva…" Saya said to herself, wondering if they were back to where they began with her.

"Eh, don't worry. She was probably just like that because she was losing. Don't take it seriously." Dante said while pushing off the wall and heading towards the man that didn't seem upset that the woman had just been killed.

He stood there, picking at dirt or whatever else he saw in his fingernails before noticing that Dante was approaching him.

"Time for us to work?" He asked while taking a step forward.

Dante shrugged as he came to a stop a few feet away.

"Unless you feel like playing with a Rubik's cube until we kill everyone else." He said while looking around, making sure there wasn't anyone in hiding.

"Don't worry. No one is here to help us." The man said, seeming to be able to discern what he was thinking.

Dante looked back at him and saw that he was now scratching one of his arms with the other's hand.

"She was one of the normal Novertos, and I'm just another pawn-class like the one you killed before. We're the working class, third-estate, immigrants, steel-workers… the people that everything depends on yet the ones that get cast aside the moment we're useless."

Dante brought Gemonia out from underneath his coat.

"If you're so strong, why don't you fight back?" He asked, aiming his weapon at the man.

The man shrugged and stuck a hand behind his own back, taking hold of something before pulling a machete out and bringing it up between them.

"Because we can't work together."

"Don't complain if you can't step up." Dante said before stabbing Gemonia forward, the man dodging and hitting the weapon at the same time before twisting around and dragging the machete through the air, using a backhand slash to chop at Dante's neck.

He ducked and rammed forward, knocking the man away before aiming Gemonia at him again.

"Lamigarda!" Dante yelled before energy burst from the barrel, flying towards the man.

He didn't dodge though, only brought up the machete and gripped it as the energy approached.

"Kochoppu(great chop)!" He declared before hacking down through the energy, causing one half to fly past his head and blow up a chair while the other whizzed by Diva's head before crashing into one of the walls of a ramp, causing rubble to fall down and block off the other side.

Dante grinned.

"Not bad, you've got a bit of game. Your last buddy didn't do so well." He said before gripping the blunt end of his blade like it was a pole and flashing his expression to absolute surprise.

"It was more like… AAAAAGGGHHH!!!!" Dante yelled, waking Diva up and causing Saya to cover her ears, both telling him to be quiet in their own way.

He returned to normal, facing down the man.

"Well, what did you expect from a man who fights with a pitchfork?" The man asked, causing Dante to laugh.

"You got that right. You're not a bad guy. What's your name?"

His face showed interest.

"You're interested in who I am?"

Dante gave a subtle gesture with his head showing that he did.

"Okay then. I'm pawn-class, nanba-nijuu, Kanfu."

The silver-haired man nodded his head in response.

"Oh right, I remember hearing that before."

Kanfu looked as simple and poor as that other guy, but he acted completely different.

"Good, now I know who the person I'm going to beat is." He said more to himself than to anyone else.

"Heh. Beat me? I can't let you do that." Kanfu said before bringing the machete down to his side.

Dante raised his head up in interest.

"Oh?"

"For my sake, as well as everyone else at my level. I must defeat you."

Dante chuckled at his dramatics.

"Then come on."

"Fuzeikire(air slice)!" He shouted before the air moved around his weapon and he chopped out towards Dante, causing the air to jut forward at him.

He stood there, his sword held in the air as Kanfu had done before slashing down at the attack, doing the same thing to it as his enemy had done to his own attack, though this time one of the halves almost hit Saya, who had to dive out of the way just to avoid it.

"Dante! Could you save the macho-garbage for some other time when you're _alone _please?!" She yelled over to him, only getting a shrug in response before he went back to his normal stance.

"It wasn't anything 'macho', actually." Kanfu said, surprising Dante that he was equally as lax, considering they were fighting. Usually everyone got really serious then.

"If he had simply dodged the attack it would have continued to fly through the air until it hit you." He added, still keeping his machete raised.

"Maybe. But I wanted to prove I could chop _your _attack in half as much as you could do to mine." He returned with a grin, causing Kanfu to take a step forward.

"Oh. Than I guess it _was _macho-garbage." He said before jumping forward and hacking at Dante, who dodged the attack and stabbed forward with Gemonia.

Kanfu stamped a foot down into the ground and sent himself away from the attack while breaking into a run towards a side of the room, all the while keeping the machete firmly in his hands, ready to strike.

Not having the patience to wait for him to come back, Dante ran off after him, aiming Gemonia at him as energy began to collect at the barrel again.

At that moment Kanfu stopped running and lunged forward, twisting his torso in a full 360 spin and letting the natural momentum built up in the blade let the machete bash Gemonia out of Dante's grip.

Before he got the chance to attack again, though, Dante grabbed his wrist and threw him over a shoulder, not taking time to see what the result was as he dove towards his weapon, taking it into his hands as he rose up from the floor, the two now facing each other again, albeit with a much greater distance in-between them.

"We've gotta get this over with." Dante said, realizing that if they went at it as they were now it would take forever to see who would win.

Kanfu's grip tightened on his weapon.

"If that's what you really want… Fuzeikire!" He yelled before slicing an air-crescent towards him.

Though he had gotten tired of saying it every time before using it, Dante shouted the name of his own attack, the two colliding in mid-air and exploding as they did so, causing smoke to spill out from where they had met.

Before it cleared the two leapt through it and clashed their weapons together.

Dante began to charge Gemonia again before Kanfu used the powerful chop attack he had used before to knock his weapon away, and then swang down towards Dante's arm.

He let go of Gemonia while twisting around Kanfu, catching his weapon with his left hand while coming up behind the man and succeeding in performing another Lamigarda, though his enemy stuck the machete behind his back at the last second to take the blunt of the force, the energy that was repelled by the blade blew Dante away at the same time it did Kanfu.

Both of the men landed on the floor yards away, creating some smoke-trails as they did so, and stamped their feet in the ground like bulls getting ready to charge.

Then they did, and ran towards each other, bringing their weapons down at the same time.

"Shit." Dante thought before making another twist, coming up behind Kanfu, bringing in his weapon to aim backwards, and thrusting behind him, still facing forward.

He felt the blade connect- _penetrate_, through Kanfu's back, and his front.

Only a second could have passed, but it felt longer.

Dante pulled Gemonia forward and aimed it outwards, blood flying from the blade as he did so.

A second later he heard the machete chop into the ground and turned around, seeing Kanfu walk away, towards the pile of rubble his attack had previously created.

"I am a pawn. A worker. A _peasant_. It is my duty to work and to work until I die. With no praise for it." He said while falling to his knees and lifting up one heavy chunk of the wall and moving it out of the way, even though there was another one they could use to get to the other floor.

He didn't get the chance to move another piece before falling forward into the pile, the rubble tumbling down before covering him, a sort of grave befitting a worker.

Dante walked over to the machete before picking it up and looking at the dull blade which still shone for some reason.

"Without guys like you, doing all that dirty work, all of us would be living in homes made a crap." Dante said before throwing the machete at the pile, the weapon lodging itself in one of the bigger pieces.

"Diva! Time to go! Wake up!" He said loudly, the girl waving him away as Saya walked up behind him.

They all grouped together again and walked up the other, pristine and finely carpeted ramp to the second floor.


	16. Warnings of company and wasted time

"I can't believe he's done something like this again." Nero said to himself while walking down the hall from his room, having just heard the news from Bianco.

"First he kills a person suspected to have one of the weapons that we need before he had the chance to manifest it. Then he sent two of our members after the ones who _did _manifest their powers simply to see how powerful they were. And now, when he could have had them killed and their weapons taken he once again left it up to only two people; a smaller group than the ones they're facing." He spoke, holding the black wrist-bands on his arms while trying to guess where Ritorno would be.

"I can't walk around with my powers unleashed, but that doesn't mean I can't stop him if he tries something like this again." He continued, in thought.

"Where are you going, Nero?" He heard someone ask him whimsically from behind.

He stopped in his tracks before turning around and walking towards the arrogant, grinning man all in one motion.

"Ritorno, I've heard about your latest whim that departed from the plan we agreed on _again_." He said, tired of the man's constant laxness and individual decisions.

"Oh? You're one to talk." He said while walking forward himself, his eyes somewhat yellow, showing his amusement.

"Everyone _else _showed up when the intruders entered our home. Where were _you_?" He questioned in response.

"I- what does that have to do with anything?" He asked, surprised at how quickly Ritorno had taken control of the conversation.

"Tell me, what is the weapon-manifestation that you have? It's the only one I don't know about. Everyone else has either told me or I've seen it. But you've always kept your powers a secret to the rest of us."

Nero unconsciously took a step back, then stamped it forward again when he realized that he was looking guiltier by the second.

"I don't trust any of you. That's all."

One of Ritorno's eyebrows raised.

"Oh? Not even Bianco?"

"It's the people who are closest to you that can hurt you the most." He retorted before Ritorno scoffed through his grin and turned away.

"Just make sure that you're careful in the company that _you _keep. A group united by the desire to kill someone is barely a group at all; it's just a way for them to coalesce and murder. They aren't the kind of people to be trusted."

Nero scowled.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Ritorno chuckled before walking away.

"Of course not. Be sure of one thing though, Nero; you are expendable. If I had all of the members of our own little group go after them all at the same time we would grind them to powder and take the weapons with little to no effort. You wouldn't even have to _be _there."

The man momentarily looked over his shoulder, his eyes glowing green and purple at the same time.

"We don't need you. And if you reveal yourself to be our enemy, we'll kill you without a wait."

Nero clenched his fists before Ritorno once again looked away from him and continued walking.

"Just keep that in mind."

* * *

"Dante…please." Saya asked him, the man in red continually pouring his loose change into a slot machine and cranking the handle down.

"Come on, come on, come on… bar…"

The wheels within spun and spun, before the first one stopped.

BAR

"Yes! Come on!"

BAR

"Come on, baby…" He said, lightly pounding his fists against the case in anticipation.

STRAWBERRY

"Damn it!" Dante yelled before picking the machine up and falling backwards, slamming the thing into the floor and causing Saya to jump backwards to avoid the impact while he stood back up.

"Dante!" She yelled as he looked at her.

"_What _already?" He asked her while scanning the rest of the room for something else to go to.

The room was essentially a small casino; the walls, ceiling, floor… they were all empowered colors that would make you want jump up and down out of excitement.

A craps table, slot machines, poker tables, roulette wheel and more decorated the room and showed signs of recent use, aside from theirs.

It was the first room on the top floor and also the one that they had to go through to get to the others.

But the second he'd seen all of the shining lights and made sure no one else was in the room he'd catapulted off to the nearest thing he could reach.

"Why are you wasting all this time gambling? We should be going further into the building and defeating more of our enemies, not sitting down playing blackjack." She complained as he made his way over to a small desk and looked at it, seeing that it had a lock on a fairly sizeable compartment.

"I'm going to take their money. Sabotage them." Dante declared before prying the cover off and grabbing the legal notes inside; cramming them into his coat.

"How is that supposed to affect them?" She asked him incredulously.

A shrug was his only response and she sighed while turning her attention over to Diva, who was now back to acting childish again and watching the ball spinning on the roulette wheel like it was the most interesting thing ever invented.

"Diva, not _you_ _too_." Saya said in disbelief as her little sister continued to spin the wheel faster and faster until it broke off what it had been held to and traveled across the floor like a spinning top before sending the ball into the back of Dante's head, causing him to grumble while looking back at Diva, who was now completely focused on the automated shuffler attached to the poker table.

"Am I the only one taking this seriously?" She asked the both of them, neither of them responding as Dante continued to cram money into his pockets and Diva tore the machine from the table and wrenched it open before attempting to shuffle the cards herself, pulling out seemingly random cards from the deck.

Somehow, when she was finished, the card that she picked off the top of the deck last was the queen of hearts, which she put down on the poker table, completing a royal flush.

"Whoa. Glad I didn't try to play against _her_." Dante remarked, seeming to pay attention for the first time since they'd entered the room.

Diva giggled before straining the deck of cards with her fingers and letting them blast off into Saya's face, making her feel like she was running a daycare center as both of them laughed at her.

But that was the last straw.

She transformed the red rose into the katana while looking at both of them, snapping her gaze from one to the other.

"Hey, hey. Don't be getting crazy now." Dante said while backing away.

Saya didn't back down, but instead ran from machine to machine, table to table, hacking everything into unrecognizable bits before once again allowing the weapon to shrink down, and put it in a breast pocket.

"Ready now?" She asked the two of them, Dante still covering his face, peeking out between his fingers, and Diva pouting because Saya had destroyed everything that could be remotely fun.

"Fine. But for that I'm not sharing any of this with you." He said while jamming the money into the depths of his pockets before walking towards the door they hadn't gone through yet.

Diva reluctantly did the same and they were finally back on track.

* * *

I know Saya's actions at the end were out of character but I couldn't think of any other way to force them to continue going.


	17. Triple phalanx vs ragtag trio

"What the hell is this is place?" Dante asked no one in particular as they walked out onto a circular landing in a massive room that resembled a coliseum.

Though the stone was grey, had a more gothic feel than Roman, and a ceiling, it felt like they were standing about twenty feet above a gladiator's pit.

"I'm not sure." Saya responded as they walked along the edge.

There was plenty of room to walk on, easily five people wide, but the stone chairs fixed to the outside walls made it a bit awkward to move around.

If there was any doubt to the chairs' significance the fact that there were twenty-one of them spread out across the landing, one looking much more ornate than the others, made it evident that this was very much like the layout of the elongated table and chairs back in the lobby or whatever it was called.

"Looks like they just hang out here and watch what goes on down there." Dante said, scanning the lower level for anything that stood out.

But while it was well-crafted, there was nothing that really screamed out "I'm important".

For that matter, this whole coliseum shouldn't have been here in the_ first_ place.

They walked along the whole circumference of the landing but there were no doors other than the one they'd entered through.

And from the looks of it there wasn't so much as an archway on the lower level.

"So should we go back to the lobby and see what's behind the door on the first story?" Saya asked him, not getting a response before having to repeat it.

"How'd they get away?" He thought out loud.

Saya shook her head as Diva sat down in one of the chairs, lounging like a cat while remaining out of the conversation.

"What do you mean?" Saya asked as he walked to the very edge of the landing and looked down.

"They all jumped back up onto the balcony before they left, right?"

"Yes." Saya responded, not seeming to understand what he was getting at.

"But there's only the two rooms up here. Where'd they go?"

Her eyes showed understanding as she realized what he meant.

"You mean that they should be around here."

Dante nodded.

"Yeah. But they aren't. Which means there's some kind of secret passage or whatever around here."

"Where do you think it is?"

He thought for a few seconds.

"Dante?"

"Don't know." He said, blowing it off while walking over to an empty chair and sitting down in it, hanging his legs over an arm.

She sighed while walking over to them and taking up the chair between Dante's and Diva's.

"What should we do next then?" She asked him.

He shrugged in his chair before she nudged him and forced him to pay more attention.

"Eh, I guess we can go back down to that other door. If we don't find them down there we'll just hang out in the kitchen until someone comes knocking." Dante said while pushing himself up in the chair.

"After a little rest though." He said while closing his eyes.

As he heard her getting a lecture or scolding ready though, something sounded out from the lower level and he catapulted off the chair, pulling Gemonia out from under his coat while twisting in the air and landing on the ground below.

The sound had essentially just made him react, but now he saw that the noise had been a panel of the wall sliding down to show a barely-lit corridor.

"Or we could go through _here_." He said to himself while checking to see if anyone was in the passage, not spotting anything moving.

"Why would you want to do a thing like that?" He heard a man's voice ask from the upper level.

Dante jumped back to see who had said that and saw that man standing in the doorway of the room.

The one he was after.

Both Saya and Diva started to get out of their chairs, but he was suddenly engulfed in a shadow like he'd made appear when Diva attacked him before.

When the shadow disappeared Dante spotted another one appear behind the twins, but didn't have enough time to warn them before they were grabbed by the back of their clothes and tossed down into the "pit" with him, Ritorno disappearing once again before sliding out of another shadow and into his chair on the landing.

He snapped his fingers and multiple other shadow-holes of the same kind appeared at various other chairs and the remaining members of his group soon emerged from the shadows, sitting down in their own respective chairs.

"It seems that you beat the other two pretty quickly. And wrecked our little gambling room at the same time. You've been very efficient at destroying our things." He said, an annoying expression on his face and a tone in his voice.

The sisters, having gotten back up from the ground, manifested their swords and got in front of Dante.

If he was painting a picture it would look like a king passing judgment on warriors in a pit. With an emphasis on him being an asshole.

"But unfortunately for you a majority of our group have decided to stop letting you tear the place up. Three of _you_ against three of _us_. If you beat them _this _time maybe we'll just kill one of you after taking your weapons. And give the others a savage beating instead."

Dante scowled as he thought of how to get out of here.

This wasn't looking like it would be fun. And he'd been fighting equally with one of the weakest guys of all of them. If everyone else was as strong as they were made out to be then they were going to have a problem.

"We'll let the Nanbas take care of it this time. Bishop, rook, knight." He said before three people stood up from their seats and hopped down into the "pit".

They were dressed as they were made out to be; the "bishop" wore clothes typical of a medieval priest and looked modest in comparison to the other two, one of which was dressed in expensive-looking clothes that showed his position and the other wore brown-leather garments that resembled horse harnesses in materials, though made for people.

It didn't really matter but he guessed that the first was the priest, the second was the knight and the third was the rook.

"Guess I don't care though." He said before running forward on his own, bringing Gemonia up as he approached the priest.

As he did though the rook-guy said something and suddenly a transparent wall appeared in front of him.

He jumped up to it and kicked off, jumping several feet away as the wall shattered.

The rook was now wearing armor, apparently the form of his "weapon".

"Nanba-juuhachi, Tenshukaku." He said as if Dante was supposed to give half a damn.

As he finished the thought a blue-blur moved past him and he saw Diva stabbing out towards the knight this time.

Once again a wall came up between them but she continued heading for the man and surprised Dante when the wall disappeared the second she touched it, the knight forced to dodge her attack before they retreated away from her.

"I am surprised _she's _the one who figured it out." The knight said to the other two.

"Agreed. It had seemed she was mentally-incapable." The priest agreed.

Diva didn't seem to care what they were saying as she readied for the next attack.

Once again she lunged forward towards the knight and once again a wall came up in-between them.

This time, however, when she reached it, Diva instead collided with a completely intact wall and fell back to the ground, shaking her head from the impact.

"What the-" Dante began before something thrust itself through the wall towards Diva's chest, the girl barely able to dodge the attack, a sleeve of the shirt-portion of her dress getting cut through as she did so and the wall collapsed and disappeared like the first one.

"Nanba-juunana, Kishi." The knight said, now holding a lance in his hands, a piece of white cloth falling from the tip of the weapon.

"I don't care what your names are." She said before attacking again, chopping down the next wall before it even fully materialized.

Kishi stabbed out with the lance but Diva simply hopped up onto it and ran along the length of the weapon before swiping at the man's head and succeeding in grazing his cheek before Tenshukaku leapt up from the ground and tackled her like a mid-air football player.

The second they hit the ground he got up and backed off, the girl getting up herself while taking a deep breath, having the wind knocked out of her the moment before and not in the best of moods.

Kishi was standing next to the priest.

"Pray, sutaffu(staff)." He said before a modest-looking white-wood staff appeared in his hands.

"Ikeitaku(high respect)" The priest continued before the cut on Kishi's cheek was covered in white light, and then healed; the skin looking healthier than it had _before_.

"I am nanba-juukyuu, Shookyu." He said as the three faced them, Saya running forward to stand by Diva.

"Great. One guy blocks, the other guy hits back and then the last one heals whoever gets hurt. Yeah, this fight is going to be over _real_ quick." He thought to himself as Diva leapt forward like before.

"Diva, wait!" Saya said before a wall once again appeared in front of her aggressive sister.

She tried to simply go around it this time, but was met by a lance and was once again forced back.

However, she wasn't moving quickly enough and a second later the wall was pushed down, missing Diva but blasting her away as the wind-pressure flew out from under the wall as it crashed into the ground, disappearing like the others had.

In mid-air she managed to regain her balance but Dante had noticed that the whole time they had actually been forced back, the other group gaining ground.

"Diva, we need to work together like they do." Saya said while retreating back to her.

"Fine, I'll kill the one with the stick, you kill the one with the armor and Dante can kill the one with the pole. Let's go." She said before Saya got in her way, trying to keep her back.

But Diva was the stronger of the two and managed to push Saya away before heading towards Shookyu.

It was weird though, she didn't seem to be nearly as fast as she usually was and though Diva managed to avoid being skewered by Kishi's lance it soon batted her back down into the ground.

Dante aimed Gemonia at the priest as Diva began to retreat, but another wall appeared and stopped her.

He could see Kishi heading for her again as well and he reluctantly aimed the weapon at the wall instead before firing off a Lamigarda, shattering the thing and allowing her to get away as the lance thrust forward again, actually blowing her hair back from the closeness of the attack.

However, Kishi didn't stop at the one attack and before Dante could react another wall came up exclusively in front of him, blocking his view.

Spinning sideways, he slashed through the wall even as he twisted around it and aimed Gemonia at them again.

But Kishi was too close to Diva, her movements too slow and Kishi's weapon too long.

"Pierce, Mori(lance)!" He yelled before his feet blasted him forward like a jet stream and his lance bit through the air, aiming to impale itself in Diva's back as he caught up to her in less than a half of a second.

At the last moment she forced herself out of its path, but as he continued to go past her Kishi used the lance to shove her to the ground even while he turned around and stabbed out with the weapon again.

Saya dove under the strike and hit the lance with her sword, succeeding in altering the trajectory of the attack so that instead of goring itself in Diva's stomach it thrust through her own shoulder.

Dante shook his head before firing off a Lamigarda at him, making the man retreat, though still unharmed.

Diva stood up as Saya looked at her wound, her little-sister seeming unable to say anything.

"Do you believe me now?" She asked the longer-haired one as the wound disappeared, now only the top of the sleeve still missing.

Dante positioned himself behind the two of them and they made momentary contact before the sisters faced their enemy again.

"Finally throwing aside your useless pride?" Shookyu asked them.

Dante's head tilted before he aimed Gemonia at Tenshukaku.

"Heh. Not a chance." He said while firing off a Lamigarda, forcing the man to bring up a wall in-between him and the attack just to keep from being dissolved by the energy.

As he did so the sisters ran towards him and Diva tackled him before Saya switched direction and cut her hand with the sword and slashed at Kishi, making him dodge both a sword strike and a crimson-crescent at the same time, the man having to dive to the ground as a result.

Once again though they seemed too slow and were unable to continue the attacks before both Tenshukaku and Kishi backed off and retreated to a safe distance.

"It seems dense of you not to notice such a thing." Shookyu said as he once again positioned himself behind Kishi and Tenshukaku.

"One of my abilities is to reduce the mobility of my enemy or enemies."

Dante shrugged and said that he didn't really care before aiming Gemonia at him and firing off another blast.

A wall rose up like the other times and the Lamigarda _hit_ it like the other times, but unlike the others, when everything returned to normal the wall was still standing.

"Great." He said to himself as Kishi walked out and in front of the wall.

"However, it would seem we must take this seriously now if we're to keep this battle from becoming too lengthy." Kishi said before he brought his lance up and aimed it at the ceiling.

"Pa-manento-Dateshuuwareme(permanent gallant split)." The knight said before Dante got a wicked case of double-vision.

He shook his eyes and blinked, but no matter what he did there always seemed to be two of them, now covered in expensive-looking armor.

Dante didn't even get a chance to swear before Tenshukaku put his hands to the ground and yelled out "Sugoikabe(great wall)".

The ground trembled before a dozen of the transparent walls rose up between the two groups, even though Kishi, Kishis, or whatever he was now walked through it like it wasn't even there.

"Against a man who only knows how to fire off one kind of blast, a woman that has to hurt herself to attack effectively, and a girl that doesn't even know the name of her own sword, we should be able to finish this quickly." Kishi said while approaching them, the two sisters backing away until they were near Dante.

"Damn." He said to himself while actually trying to come up with a plan to win, the effort in-and-of itself an act of desperation.

Unable to come up with anything, their only option was to try to endure the assault until they could figure something out.


	18. Nero Fellonio

"Hyah!" She yelled while swinging out at one of the suits of armor.

It retreated, but immediately the other leapt into its place and stabbed out at her with its lance.

She rolled out of its path as Diva lunged forward to attack the new suit of the armor.

Saya didn't know which of the two was the actual man controlling them, but she guessed that if- _when_ they managed to beat him the other would simply stop coming after them and fall apart.

But with that priest, Shookyu's ability to heal his allies she didn't know they would manage it.

Diva was forced back as the suits repeated the previous strategy against her in reverse-order.

"Can he bring people back from the dead? Should we work on defeating _him_ first? Or won't we be able to get to him now that those walls are stronger?"

Her contemplating almost cost her a lung as a suit of armor tried to attack her.

But she managed to hit the lance with her own weapon and slow it down enough to get out of its path, running towards it.

Once she was too close to get stabbed, Saya and swung at its head.

As Saya tried though, something hit her and both she and it flew several yards away before landing.

Looking up she saw that it was Diva, who had already succeeded in getting up despite how disoriented they both were.

"And we just can't keep up." She continued while rising herself.

The suits lined up together as they aimed their lances forward once again.

"Where did Dante go?" She wondered before seeing him over at the walls hacking at the things, not appearing to be making much progress.

The men behind the transparent wall laughed at him as he tried, which meant that it probably wasn't going to work.

Saya bit her lip as she tried to come up with a plan.

No one else had joined the fight and she was willing to bet no one _would_. They didn't seem to care about each other, or at least not the people who had been sent after them so far.

"And if the structure of the Nanbas side is as simple as it seems that means there must be a king and a queen class as well." She thought as the knights flew across the ground, their lances aimed directly at her and Diva.

She got an idea and moved closer to her sister, nudging her as subtly as she could.

Her younger twin glanced over at her and Saya rubbed her neck and knees before getting back to her normal position.

As the knights made it close enough to strike out at them she dove under one lance as it tore through the air where her chest was a few seconds before, and continued moving in a crouch under the second one before coming to Diva's side and they both lunged forward, Diva slashing out at the right suit's neck as _she _hit its _knees_.

The surprise attack worked; the helmet flying off as the greaves were knocked out from under the rest of the armor, but there was no blood coming from either attack so she guessed that it must have been the copy.

Both of them continued running, Saya coming back up as she did so, before turning around, a safe distance from the two suits, which were still "facing" the other way.

Kishi's, the human knight's, form turned about and looked at them as the other put itself back together and faced them as well.

"You're wasting your time!" Shookyu declared from behind the safety of the barrier that Dante had failed to so much as crack so far.

"That tactic won't work again, and even if it _did_, so long as my ally's brain is still working I can heal them to perfect health. So unless you intend to destroy his weapon you have no hope, and I doubt he will allow such a thing to happen." He continued.

But as he did so Dante stopped attacking the wall and ran at the knights as well.

They didn't even regard him though as they once again leapt forward and thrust out at the sisters.

Saya tried to think of another tactic to use but couldn't come with anything in time.

The knights were getting too close and they didn't have any time.

As Diva grabbed her shoulder and pulled Saya behind her though Dante's form leapt in front of the two and stabbed Gemonia through one of the two suits.

Fortunately he'd avoided being skewered and brought them to a halt.

_Un_fortunately in the process the half-demon was sent flying like a rock from a trebuchet into Diva, and as a result Saya; the trio crashing into the hard stone ground as the knights came to a full stop.

Saya's head had knocked against the stone ground and her vision and other senses were blurry for a few seconds, but they worked well enough for her to feel Diva push Dante off them and get up.

"What are you doing?!" Her sister said in a normal-volume, but with great irritation in her voice.

"Have you joined up with them or something?" She continued as Saya struggled to get up to her feet, Dante already standing.

"Calm down." He told her while looking on at the suit of armor that he had imbedded his weapon in, the inanimate armor reaching for the hilt/handle and pulling the thing out with a sound similar to when a knife is pulled out of a tin can.

It, the copy, pulled the blade out entirely and threw it behind the two knights, out of reach.

But they could still see it land on the rock because of the hole that was now present in the suit.

Both Saya's and Diva's eyes widened, surprised he'd actually come up with a clever trick like that.

Though he hadn't damaged any of their enemies the twins could now tell which was the fake from the punctures through the armor.

Dante stood there, a proud pose, before he explained.

"That stupid-looking guy with the stick can't heal metals and stuff so he can't make the action figure look like it used to. Which means 'whack-a-mole' just got a hell of a lot easier."

Saya nodded before looking at Diva, who didn't even need to make eye contact with Saya this time before they both leapt forward, towards Kishi.

However, even though they knew who to attack now that didn't guarantee they would be able to strike him.

This was something made evident as two lances came out to meet them.

But they had been expecting this and as Diva blocked both attacks with her sword, which strained under the impact, Saya jumped up above her and cut her hand on her sword before yelling out "Chiwangetsu" and striking off the fake suit's helm with it, sending the rest of the armor scattering out in separate directions.

The real Kishi retreated, but it was two against one now and Tenshukaku didn't seem capable of summoning walls outside the large one he had created so they had him.

Once again Diva leapt ahead of Saya, though this time she stabbed her sword into the ground and grabbed hold of the lance so he couldn't use it.

Saya ran forward like normal and raised her sword, seeing his eyes go wide inside the helmet before she struck out at his neck.

He let go of the lance and backed away in time but as Saya ran past him, breaking off her own assault, Diva let go of the weapon herself, and jumped forward and struck out at his armored form with her bare hands, the normally stupid thing to do putting a dent in the armor and sending him flying through the transparent wall, to safety.

Still, they had the three against the wall now. In more ways than just literally.

Even though they couldn't get through the wall yet, the other group now had no means of attacking them with Kishi weapon-less. And Dante had already succeeded in retrieving Gemonia during their brief battle.

It may take a while but, like a fortress with no forces to protect it, all it would take was time for them to tear the walls down.

They had won, and she breathed in relief as Dante walked up to the two of them.

"Who rules?" He asked them, interrupting the important moment with his immature actions.

They tried to ignore him but he repeated the question in a more annoying tone and they realized he wouldn't stop until they responded.

"You do." They gave in, saying the sentence in unison and with an absence of enthusiasm.

Nonetheless he nodded and aimed Gemonia at the wall.

"Okay, you two can take five now, I've got this covered." He said as energy began collecting at the end of Gemonia's barrel.

Instead of the few seconds it had taken before though, this time energy continued collecting after a whole minute and she realized he must have discovered a new kind of attack.

His grin took on a smirk-like tint before he announced the attack, Lamicanhao, that Saya now realized was the one that Avidito had almost annihilated them with before back at the shop.

The energy erupted from the barrel as it screamed towards the transparent wall, straining Tenshukaku to keep it up as the energy continued to try and ram its way through the barrier, eventually dissipating but leaving the man on his knees, heaving from exhaustion.

Dante yawned, as if mocking the other man by pretending to just be waking up from the effort, and began the attack again, everyone knowing that the walls wouldn't keep out another attack.

She felt a bit bad that they would have to die, but these weren't the kinds of enemies you could simply defeat and then leave alone unfortunately, especially because of their combination of abilities.

Diva, like usual, didn't seem to care and appeared to be more interested in the variety of colors the energy turned into as it collected together and became denser.

The sphere of energy seemed to be burning the air particles as it grew in size, as sizzling could be heard, though quieter than a shirt being ironed.

Dante put two hands on Gemonia's grip as he prepared for the recoil and she knew this was the end of the battle.

"See ya later, loser-class nanba-dead-like-sushi gits!" He said with a disturbing amount of enjoyment in his voice before the second Lamicanhao, stronger than even the first one, fired.

It burst forth again and didn't even slow down as the walls shattered behind its force, the transparent fragments flying through the air as it continued and engulfed all three of their enemies, their bodies seeming to evaporate as they yelled their dying breaths and the walls behind them were smoldered black from the remaining force, certain pieces crumbling down as the attack finally dissipated.

That's what she _expected _to happen anyway.

In reality, when the energy shone through the air like a holy-blast destroying demons, it was stopped in its glorious tracks, and then put out, by a single hand.

All six of the fighters in the "pit" looked, eyes-wide and several with mouths agape at the man who had stopped the overwhelmingly-powerful attack with a single, outstretched hand.

She had expected it, if Saya had been expecting it to happen at _all_, to be Ritorno. But instead it was someone else. Someone she hadn't seen before

The man had black hair like her, Diva and Ritorno, but it was sticking up, medium-length, and blowing from the wind of force the Lamicanhao had created.

His clothes consisted of normal-looking black shoes, grey pants, a dark-grey t-shirt or tank-top, and a black jacket with a purple inner-color, a collar permanently fixed up, and blowing as his hair did.

"Buckles" of the same fabric as his jacket blew as well and seemed to be what would snap onto the other side of the jacket to close it up.

The man's expression wasn't amused or arrogant at all like Ritorno's, and seemed to be a reluctant, yet strong face with grey eyes that stared at them normally, but with a seemingly-undesired fierceness.

She saw no weapon on him, but doubted he _needed _one.

He stood there between the two groups, looking at them and seeming to single her out.

Seconds later a laugh broke out from the man in the elaborately-crafted chair on the second level, showing that Ritorno was amused for some reason.

"Hahaha! Glad you managed to make it…"

He continued looking at them as if no one had spoken.

"Nero."

* * *

As an explanation of the chapter title, Nero Fellonio is a "masculine"(as in replacing an a with an o) version of fellonia. Which means betrayal in Italian(from what the dictionary said anyway.)


	19. Torn apart, love of the roses

"Did you say…Nero?" Saya asked, staring wide-eyed at the man that stood in front of them.

"Yes. Nero Sinistra; one of the people who can manifest soul swords and the highest-ranking Noverto." Ritorno added, still grinning in amusement, his yellow eyes showing his mood even more than the expression.

She stared at the man who had claimed to be her chevalier, but couldn't tell what was going on.

"Or didn't he tell you that before?" He mused.

Nero briefly regarded Ritorno by turning his eyes to the corner of his vision, but then looked back at her.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I've never met them before." He said, his eyes still blank and fierce at the same time, like a bored intensity.

Ritorno laughed again before leaning back in his "throne" on the upper level.

"As you wish." He said before falling silent.

Both Diva and Dante were behind her so she didn't know what their expressions were, but guessed that Diva didn't care who he was and that Dante wanted to yell out "I told you so".

Before Saya could ask him what was going on though, Kishi sprang towards his lance.

She clenched her teeth while trying to get to the lance first.

"Damn! I should have known they'd use this opportunity to-"

Her thinking was cut off as Nero was suddenly above the lance and picked it up, swinging it around in a full circle, repelling both her and Kishi away to where they had been before.

"What are you doing Sinistra?!" Kishi yelled at him, obviously irritated that the man had taken his weapon and attacked him with it.

Nero only glanced over his shoulder but it was enough to make Kishi step back.

"Know your place, _Nanba_. I'm the leader of the Novertos. Don't raise your voice to me. _Especially _when you were so weak that you allowed your weapon to be taken away from you." He said, seeming actually irritated for the first time since he'd appeared without his disguise on.

Then the black-haired man tossed the lance over his shoulder, nearly skewering Kishi on his own weapon despite the fact that the toss had been a casual one.

"I'm taking over this battle. You have two choices; go back to your seat and watch me defeat them or try to attack them again and get killed. That goes for the other two of you as well."

Though they seemed taken aback by his conditional death threat Shookyu took a step forward.

"But Saya is _our _prey! You have no right to-"

"Be quiet!" Nero yelled while snapping his gaze back to the middle-aged priest.

"You are in _no _position to lecture me on attacking another's target! Were _you _not attacking _Diva _yourselves?"

Shookyu backed off, his staff shrinking back down to a walking stick.

"If you had done this on your own I would have already killed you. The only reason you aren't lying dead on the ground with that stick in your eye is because our _leader _is the one who ordered it." He said while his expression became more subdued.

Apparently he didn't like Ritorno much more than they did.

"However," Nero began while turning back to face Saya and the others.

"You _do _have a point. Saya is not my target to fight with. As such, my only opponent here is Diva." He said as his gaze fixed on her younger sister and Saya moved herself to be in their way.

"I can't let him attack her. I don't know what's going on with him now, but with how strong he is and Diva not knowing her weapon's abilities even _she _would be killed." Saya thought to herself.

Still, he didn't even seem to register her, as if Nero could still see Diva as clearly as before, despite the fact that she was in his way.

She swallowed.

His shear _focus _was more than she was used to handling, there wasn't a single person she had ever fought who acted like she wasn't there simply because of their intent of hurting someone else.

"Not out of discipline anyway." She thought.

"But if Saya attacks me as I'm trying to take Diva's weapon then I will kill her and take _her _weapon as well." He said while moving wristbands on his arms, apparently making sure that they were firmly stuck on.

"And what about little old me?" Dante asked as the previous three assailants withdrew to their "perches" on the second level.

Nero's eyes didn't falter from staring at Diva through Saya as he answered.

"You aren't assigned to anyone. Since it was never expected that there would be twins of opposing sides who would manifest the powers. But if you attack me I'll kill you all the same."

Dante scoffed.

"You're definitely the same bastard; talking about serious things with little-to-no interest."

"I don't know what you're talking about." He said while starting to walk towards Diva, his steps alone seeming to echo power.

"Yeah, sure you don't." She heard Dante say from behind them before firing a Lamigarda at Nero.

The only thing he managed to do before the surprise-blast hit him was bring up an arm.

And when the blast cleared he was gone.

"Well, that wasn't very hard now was-" Dante was cut off as she heard something struck away, and whipped around, seeing the red-clad man falling down from a wall to his feet, shaking his head to clear it.

He had a scowl on his mouth now as he aimed Gemonia at Nero again, who was standing where _he _had been with an outstretched arm.

"Heh, you're fast, I'll give you that." He said while charging up a Lamicanhao.

Nero didn't seemed flattered as he stuck his hand back in his pocket, mirroring the other one.

"You're wrong." He said while walking towards him, making Dante raise an eyebrow in interest.

"Oh?"

"I didn't dodge your attack."

Dante's scowl deepened.

"Then what _did _you do?" He asked in irritation.

"I blocked it."

The half-demon's expression hardened.

"Yeah, right."

"It's true." Nero responded while continuing to walk slowly towards Dante, his footsteps sounding like the "tick-tocks" on a clock, counting down to Armageddon.

"When the blast came towards me I blocked it with one of my hands and let it explode in my palm. Then I used the smoke as cover to conceal my movements before going over to you and hitting you into the wall."

"Teh. Then isn't it usually a bad idea to tell your opponent how you beat their attack?" He asked, dipping into the analytical pool if only to mock him.

Nero came to a stop.

"Normally, yes."

The Lamicanhao seemed to be reaching its full power as he answered.

"But that's only when you and they are in the same class in terms of abilities." Nero spoke while bringing his hands out of his pockets.

Dante spat on the ground while bracing for recoil again.

"Fine then! Arrogant bastard. See what class _this _is in!" He yelled before the energy surged forth towards him.

This time Nero stuck both hands out as the blast hit him and, though it hurt her eyes to watch it, once again succeeded in blocking the attack.

For nearly half a minute the attack pounded against his block, but in the end it dissipated without so much as making him take a step backwards.

Saya felt herself gaping and, even though his mouth was closed, saw that Dante was just as surprised as _she _was.

Nero looked at his hands and hit them against each other, dust seeming too fall from the things before he put them back in his pants pockets.

"In the non-amputee class if it makes you feel any better." He responded.

"Bastard." Dante said under his breath while bringing Gemonia back up-

-before a hand grabbed the top- the barrel, and held it still. Nero now mere feet from him

He looked into Nero's eyes, which still looked bored despite what he was doing.

"Do you really think I'm going to just keep blocking your attacks until you run out of energy? I may have that much free time, but I'm not going to waste it doing something I can accomplish in a few seconds."

Dante tried to pull Gemonia free from Nero's grip, but made zero progress despite both of his hands were working against the other man's single one.

Then his other one came up and grabbed the blade of Gemonia.

Without moving his eyes from Dante's face, the hands began to pull, and the two parts of the weapon could be heard straining to stay together.

As soon as he realized what was happening, Dante tried with extra effort to pull it free from Nero's grasp.

But even the half-demon was unable to do so and the hands continued to pry at the weapon.

As the barrel began to pull away from the blade Dante tried to kick one of Nero's legs out from under him, but only succeeded in getting one of _Nero's _legs in his stomach; barely able to hold onto the handle of the weapon afterwards as the barrel continued to twist upwards.

Noticing this, Saya began to run towards Nero, but was beaten to it by Diva, who was both closer and faster.

She couldn't tell if Nero knew she was coming as his back was now to them, but knew that he was almost finished pulling apart the weapon as she could see the barrel sticking out from the side.

"How could he possibly be this strong?" Saya thought, in a cold sweat.

"Being a chevalier wouldn't make him strong enough to do something like that to a weapon that special, or at least not while Dante is trying to stop him."

But whatever _was _enabling him to do so had finished and he back-flipped over Diva as she tried to attack him, bringing a somewhere between a fourth and half of Gemonia's barrel with him.

Dante was staring, in disbelief, at his now-wretched weapon, which simply had a curl of metal extending up from the blade now.

Diva didn't seem to pay attention to this though, as she turned towards him with the same face she'd had before, though her grin was gone, replaced by a frown.

"You shouldn't worry so much about your weapon." Nero said, his tone still flat while gazing at the twisted husk of metal that he held in his hands.

"I would never permanently damage a thing that we needed. It will heal itself eventually. But considering that all of your special attacks utilize the barrel, I believe that you're done now. Just stay out of my way." He spoke dismissively, causing Dante's face to fill with fury as he tried to push his way past Diva.

As he did though something flew through the air and a second later he was pinned to the wall, by the dismembered part of his own weapon, which now lay imbedded in-between his collar-bones.

While Dante choked his breaths, trying to pull the piece of metal from his lungs, Diva ran forward, striking out at Nero.

He didn't even bother to dodge, simply blocking with an arm as before, then pushing away the blade as he ducked down and inhaled, bringing out the other arm and bending it, locking it with his elbow pointing out, and slammed it forward; making Diva cough out more than gasp and sending a shattering sound out through the air.

However, she didn't even stop running before "flashing" over to where Saya was, gripping her side.

"Diva?! Are you-"

"It'll be fine." Her little sister said, still heaving while turning back to face their enemy, who slowly revolved himself until facing them, his hands still out of his pockets.

Saya brought her sword up into a battle stance before Diva shook her head.

"He's only trying to take mine. There's no need for you to get messed up too."

Saya took a big step forward, now closer to Nero than Diva.

"You're wrong. They are after _all _of our weapons. Someone would come after me anyway. Besides…" She said while preparing, the man now walking towards them.

"We're _siblings_. I don't know if he's my chevalier or not, but I don't care. I won't let anyone hurt my baby sister and get away with it." She said, causing Diva to look at her in surprise before stepping forward herself, now completely in-line with Saya.

"You can be so stubborn." She said, grinning again.

Saya felt herself get her own grin before they ran towards him.

He stopped his approach as Diva swung at his legs; a place too far down to block with his abnormally-strong arms, and made him back-step to avoid the attack.

Then Saya jumped over Diva, who had gone down into a crouch, and cut her hand on her sword, sending a crimson crescent slicing through the air towards him.

As expected, _this _time he blocked, and the attack, though normally lethal simply by its acidic traits, didn't hurt him as it dissipated.

But they had already guessed that it wouldn't work, and as Diva rolled out of the way and jumped several more yards over, Saya landed, slashing horizontally towards him.

Normally this wouldn't be very effective, since it made it easier for him to block.

However, it forced him to block with _both _hands as her knee moved forward.

"Whether he's a chevalier or anything else, he's still a male." She thought as the knee snapped up in-between his legs.

But instead of the strange "water-bed" like feeling and a high-pitched squeal of pain, the only thing she felt was something just as hard as her knee; as if it had met with bone.

A second later she saw that that was _exactly _the case and that one of his own legs had bent inwards and blocked her at the last second.

"But, how-"

"The 'secret technique' that females have used against males for generations is one of the first things they learn. After all, it _is _a weak spot. And arguably the most effective against us. But like every other weak spot it still applies to the universal rules. One in particular that you can't ignore." Nero said before pushing her leg back to the floor with his own, and throwing her sword off of his arms, her eyes noticing them that one of the hands was twisted strangely in a direction.

"If you focus too much on your _enemy's _weak point it becomes _your _weak point." He said before the strangely-twisted hand thrust through the air and grabbed one of her breasts.

Her eyes widened but before she could ask him what he thought he was doing the man spoke up himself.

"And males aren't the _only _ones with weak points." He stated before the hand twisted completely to the other side, tearing her chest in the process and making her throw up blood before he tossed her over to where Diva was.

But what was going on after that she couldn't tell very well as Saya had to clench her teeth and eyes closed just to put up with the pain as her body struggled to repair the unusual and highly undesired wound.

Diva immediately kneeled down and put a hand on Saya's shoulder, causing her to force open your eyes.

"Saya…" She began before her hand started to tremble.

"You son of a **bitch**!" She yelled before lunging towards the man and stabbing towards his eye.

She'd never heard Diva so angry before but knew it didn't matter, as seconds later she was thrown into the ground not five feet from her twin.

The wound was bearable enough now that she could stand up and got in front of Diva, though her legs were still somewhat shaky.

"Diva…l- listen. I'm going to try and occupy him for a few moments. I need you and Dante to escape through that opening in the wall while I keep him busy." She said, still breathing hard.

Her little sister immediately burst up, both physically and verbally.

"No way! You can't-"

"This isn't up for discussion, Diva. I'm your elder sister and I'm telling you to get away right now!" She said loudly, making sure Nero hadn't heard what she said before.

But when Diva began sobbing it made Saya regret what she was going to do for more than just fear for her own life.

"I know it makes you sad, Diva. But it's the only option. The three of us can't all get away."

Her twin nodded her head while looking up at her.

"You're right. It _does _make me sad."

Saya looked at her for a few seconds before preparing to run forward.

"I'm sad. It's how I always feel."

Her confusion at why Diva was talking about it now was replaced when she saw Diva's face.

"Sing, Bleu Rein." She spoke before moving her sword through the air and sending what looked like blue petals towards Nero.

One of his eyebrows raised as he brought up an arm-

-and his legs were cut right above the knee as the petals blew past him, forcing the man into a crouch.

Saya's eyes were wide and now saw that even Nero, despite his previously bored attitude, was confounded that he'd been hurt so easily.

"And I know that we can't all get away."

She looked back at Diva, and was batted over into the wall right by Dante, who had just succeeded in getting the metal out of him when he saw what was going on.

Saya shook her head as she tried to realize what had just happened.

And saw Diva now standing between them and Nero.

"Go." She whispered.

Saya felt _herself _starting to cry as Diva's body trembled, knowing what was going to happen; knowing how this would end.

"Go!" She yelled while running towards Nero.

Then a strong hand grabbed one of her wrists and pulled her into and through the passage, dragging the struggling girl further and further away from her sister.


	20. Red Rain of the blue rose

He jumped back.

She'd won.

Now, whether she killed him or he killed her, it didn't matter.

Saya and Dante were already long-gone and Nero, despite the fact that he had managed to get away, wasn't very mobile.

Apparently they all _were _human. Or something like it. As he didn't seem to be healing.

All it would take was one good stab and he'd be gone.

"So what?" He asked her as if the man could read her thoughts.

"Do you really think that's a big problem? Even if you somehow managed to kill me, we have enough organization that I would be brought back. Only the lower-ones are expendable. To everyone else anyway." Nero continued while walking forward towards her, causing Diva to step back.

"I guess I could just be cheap and keep using that move. But that'd be no fun." She thought as her grin returned.

"Still," He began, walking towards her.

"I'm curious as to how you managed to use that one ability despite the fact that you just learned your sword's name. Not to mention you were able to do so without calling out the word or phrase required to do so."

Diva shrugged.

"That guy in the suit stole it from me before, so I just remembered what he said. And since I didn't have a name when I was born I guess I can use its moves and stuff without calling _them _out."

One of his eyebrows rose in curiosity.

"Oh? Isn't that interesting? I've never heard of such a thing before." Nero said as he came to a stop.

"What _is _the name of that attack though? If you don't mind?"

"Erebrise." She responded before swiping her sword through the air again and repeating the attack.

However, he avoided the petals this time and rolled out of the way. Though the fact that he had to do such a drastic move to do so was definitely rewarding enough to make her grin widen.

Unfortunately, the petals disappeared only a few seconds after they missed, something Nero seemed to notice.

"I see. It appears to be a double-edge sword in that respect." He said while rising.

Diva tilted her head out of curiosity.

He seemed to take it as a queue to explain.

"It's much like when you make a friend, really. It takes time to learn a lot about a person and who they are. Whereas if you simply chat online or something like that it's quicker, but it takes longer to develop a relationship. You don't need to speak your attacks' names to use them. But you also can't use them to their fullest extent when you initially learn them."

She shrugged again.

"I've already got a boyfriend. So I'm fine if we just stay friends." She joked while performing the attack another time, once again making him dodge.

This time however she leapt forward and struck out at him.

Unfortunately all she managed to do as a result was get her sword caught between his hands as he stood up.

His eyes looked at her, the bored expression on his face again.

But Diva hadn't lost her grin. On the contrary; as she struggled to free Bleu Rein from his grip it actually _deepened_.

Nero's expression, though barely changed, showed his mild confusion.

All she was managing to do was swing the sword back and forth, not even making his hands sweat in an attempt to hold onto the blade, but she seemed more content by the second.

"What do you find so enjoyable?" He asked her, finally giving into curiosity.

The second he asked though there was a blue glow from the crystal rose on her sword and it opened; dozens of the rose petals flying out of it and up into his hands.

Though he managed to let go of the blade and jump back before he had skeleton hands they were still covered in blood from the cuts they had received.

Nero was forced to jump back again as there were more petals this time to send at him after the first attack, though they all faded away after he did so.

Diva's expression softened in feign worry.

"Awww. Did you get a booboo? How about you come over here and let me kiss it better?" She offered, licking her immaculate canines.

His expression was back to normal however, as he once again stood up to his full height.

"I see. Your sword's powers are intuitive to fighting. They don't require special movements, but are rather incorporated into the simple movements themselves. Appropriate, considering your impulsive nature." He analyzed while rolling up the sleeves on his jacket, which now had torn-up cuffs.

He had black wristbands on, but she didn't know how he expected that to help him.

It wasn't as if this was project runway after all.

Diva was quite happy with herself that she had remembered the show, even though it was only because she'd laughed her butt off when one of the girls wearing the funny costumes fell through the floor.

"However," He began as his eyes lost their bored look and seemed to be taking this seriously for the first time.

She mentally frowned out of disappointment.

Up until now it had almost felt like she was playing with Vergil.

"But I guess it can't be helped." She thought while bringing her sword up in front of her, defending against another one of his lectures.

"That move isn't always going to catch people by surprise, and it can only go a certain distance."

Diva let out a loud, obnoxious yawn; like Dante's, only much cuter and with zero garlic-breath smell filling the room.

"Such an annoying little girl aren't you?" He asked, actually seeming to surprise more people than just her by his direct and personal insult.

Her grin morphed into a full-blown smile and she closed her eyes momentarily to emphasize the immature look before opening them again.

"You'd be surprised! I think. How old I was when you were still wearing diapees." She teased.

Multiple people on the upper level chuckled in response to her and made her smile that much wider.

"Perhaps." Nero said, not letting irritation take over his voice.

"And yet I don't recall ever being so immature as to try and act a certain way to appease the audience." He spoke, referring to the people on the upper landing, most of which who stopped chuckling now that he'd mentioned them.

"But it you want to joke about things like that I suppose I'll go along with it." He said while extending his arms out to his sides.

"I'll see how much I have to damage your internal organs before _you _need to wear one." He said as a cold breeze blew through the pit, despite the fact there were no windows in the walls or holes in the ceiling.

"We'll see how cute you are in a few seconds."

Diva lost her smile, the expression fading back into a grin as she looked on at him.

"Blacken, Ermetino(dark destiny)." He said as the wristbands grew in size and spun around his arm before snapping into his hands and pulling apart.

Each thinned itself and extended until they had become jet-black hook-swords.

She felt her eyebrows furrow while leaning forward.

"Hey, what happened to your other one?" She asked him, referring to the katana-like weapon he'd had before.

"Yes, Nero. I'm confused. What had happened to it? Or did you just buy it at the ninety-nine-cents store?" Ritorno asked, amused.

But Nero didn't heed him at all before bringing a hook-sword up above his head and swiping it at her, performing a bigger, bloodless black version of Saya's attack.

But it wasn't that hard to avoid. All she had to do was jump over the wide, but slow-moving projectile.

"Well that wasn't very-"

Her bored comment was cut off as he flashed up to her and brought both hook-swords up, slamming them down towards her and making Diva block with her own sword to keep from having her arms cut off.

The attack still sent her down to the rocky ground below but didn't really hurt her.

"Touché." She said while bringing Bleu Rein to her left side, preparing to swipe it.

As she did though, Diva noticed Nero's eyes following something.

Within a second or two she found out what and was blasted away by a familiar black crescent sliding through the air.

It, for some reason, didn't tear her dress but simply turned the part it had hit black. Though her skin felt kind of weird two, like someone had just sprayed her with ink where the attack had hit.

But it didn't burn or sting. It didn't even _itch_. So she ignored it.

"I guess it's meant for humans or something." Diva conceded, not really caring but doubting a "normal" person would have felt fine a few seconds after getting blasted through the air.

She barely even had time to stand up though before Nero was right in front of her, swinging those swords at her again.

Diva didn't feel like getting trapped again though, so she jumped back and swiping her sword at him, sending the petals at him once again.

But he barely regarded them before spinning around to her side, avoiding the petals that didn't have enough time to switch direction before stabbing one of the hooks-swords out at her.

It confused Diva, who knew enough about stuff to know that it had no tip that would hit her, and simply side-stepped the attack.

However, when the weapon slid to the left and pulled her sword out of the way, she quickly learned what it had actually been meant for.

Unfortunately it was too late, and the other one did the same thing, but to her leg, and caused Diva to fall flat down on her back, Bleu Rein still unusable.

She tried to pull it back but the other hook sword scooped under its hand-guard and pulled on it, dragging the weapon across the ground and away from her.

But Diva wasn't about to let him take away her only chance to win this, and dove for the hilt of the sword.

Then the hook-swords twisted and rose up into the air above his head, leaving Diva nothing to grasp for but empty space.

She swallowed while watching him hold up her sword under the flood-lights that illuminated the pit from the ceiling, stories above.

It looked like he was some kind of boxer holding up the world-championship belt, despite the fact that he still didn't seem to notice anything but her.

Though maybe it only looked that dramatic because she knew there was no way to win now.

His stare gazed down at her as Nero tossed her sword back over his head, sending the weapon up towards the second level; towards Ritorno.

"Yeah, right." She said out loud while hopping up and jumping onto Nero before lunging off him, through the air towards her weapon.

Her hand reached the hilt of the sword, and started to close around it.

"I can get my weapon back and kill the bastard that murdered Vergil all in one go. Back home in time for dinner and then going down to that demon world to find him."

Then a snap sounded out through the air and that "ink" on her body where the attack had hit felt like it erupted into flames, causing her to loose her grip on Bleu Rein and fall towards the ground at the same time.

She reached towards the weapon again as she started to fall but only succeeded in feeling the very bottom of the hilt as it continued to fly upwards and she continued to fall downwards.

Then Diva's back slammed into the ground and she heard Ritorno catch her sword up where he was.

She clenched her eyes as if to deny this was happening and punish herself for letting the sword get taken from her.

"Heh." She heard from above her, causing Diva to open her eyes and peer out at the wall, since she couldn't actually see anyone up there right now.

"Heheh." It continued as a blue light flashed across the room; effects of the flood-lights bouncing off something blue with transparent properties.

Like a crystal blue rose.

"Hahahaha! Well then! Looks like this is about finished with-"

But he was interrupted as Nero began walking towards her again, his footsteps sounding louder and more imposing than before.

"I believe I stated something before. Diva is my target. Not just her weapon. You may be finished here. But _I'm_ not."

She blinked while trying to stand up, only succeeding in making herself trip and fall back.

"Huh?" She asked, wishing it had been something she misheard.

Ritorno didn't seem to care and she thought she heard him tell everyone else to go after the others. But wasn't sure.

Diva couldn't tell if the lights were actually dimming down or if she just wasn't acknowledging them anymore as he got closer.

His eyes didn't seem angry or anything else, they just looked like they wanted to kill her.

She gulped as he got closer and thought about her big sister, wishing she was still here.

"Saya…" Diva whimpered out as he approached her, raising up one of the swords.

"…Help."


	21. With your tail between your legs

"Damn." Dante told himself for what felt like the millionth time after they got out of the hotel/mansion.

Well, to be more accurate, him and his unconscious companion that he had over his shoulder and was carrying away.

He'd managed to get them both away from that one room, but the second she got something solid to grab onto Saya had immediately tried to run back to the "pit".

There wouldn't have been any point in Diva's sacrifice if they just went back there and got caught or killed themselves though.

That's what Vergil would have said anyway, about a year or two ago.

But it kind of pissed off Dante that they'd had to run away like that at _all_.

It was the first time. The _first _time, that he'd had to actually just plain run away from a fight.

Every other time it didn't matter to him; he always found some way to win.

"But that Nero guy. What the hell is he? All the other freaks that came after us were strong, but human. That guy messed up Gemonia and everything I threw at him like he was waiting a few minutes for his show to come on or something." Dante said to himself while lowering Saya's feet down to the ground and carrying her in that way; trying his best to make it look like she was drunk as opposed to unconscious, since that would be a lot harder to explain if someone saw them.

"I'll take her back to the shop and we'll rest up, then when everything's better the two of us'll go and rescue Diva and kill that black-haired asshole."

He glanced down at Saya.

"No offense for the black-haired thing." He said as they made "their" way down a street that was only about a block from Devil May Cry.

All the shops were closed by now and only a few cars drove by them, the drivers luckily didn't notice that he was virtually-carrying her or didn't care.

While walking down the sidewalk he saw a specific shop in passing, one he'd never actually been in but remembered anyway.

It had some kind of fancy French name that he couldn't pronounce but was essentially an expensive-out-the-ass dress shop.

The main reason he remembered it was because the day right after they got back to the shop, Diva had been bothering Vergil about getting her some kind of dress since they came downstairs that morning.

He'd told her there was still a lot of work to do on the shop since he'd "rearranged the décor" as Vergil had put it. But she wouldn't let up until he agreed to put off the reconstructing work and take her there to get a dress.

Of course, Dante had immediately told him there was no way in hell he was going out before fixing the shop he'd trashed, but his twin had responded that Diva's request had been prolonged for more than long enough, causing her to nuzzle herself against his arm.

And before he could put the sentence together and connect it to Vergil actually being the speaker Diva had already pulled him out the doorway.

Eventually, when they hadn't come back for more than two hours, he'd gone after them to make sure the two hadn't skipped out on him and went on a shopping spree.

Though Dante didn't know how to pronounce the place's name he'd known what store Diva was talking about when she said she wanted a new dress, and went there first.

At first he hadn't really cared if they were shopping somewhere else or still at the same place, it was getting frigging _cold _out and he wanted them to get started as soon as they could.

But when he saw that they were at the same store, Diva still dragging Vergil all over it, and his normal bored and pissed-off expression was vacant, replaced by what almost looked a smile, he'd let it slide and snuck back to the shop, saying they could get started the next day.

As far as Dante knew, the dress Vergil bought her that day was the only one she took special care of, by _herself_. Which had surprised Saya, who was otherwise "forced" to do Diva's laundry since she was unwilling to usually do it herself.

He wasn't sure why, but even though only the lights were off in the shop and he couldn't see either of them in it, it made him feel crappy.

"Maybe it's because they might both be dead and I couldn't do a damn thing to stop it. Just maybe." He thought out loud as the street that ended at his shop appeared before his eyes as he exited an alley that connected the two streets.

The way they had taken before was a bit faster, but it was also mainly along roads and he didn't want anyone giving him a hard time about carrying Saya.

"Almost there." He told her like she could hear him.

Dante didn't know how long it would take for Gemonia to repair itself but he couldn't wait very long.

Not to mention simply keeping Saya from running back would be a pain in the ass once she woke up.

He averted his eyes from "Love Planet", trying to stay focused for once.

Of all the things though, there was one major problem; they were going to go back and try to attack the same place they had just come from, with little-to-no more abilities than they'd had before and one less person. There was no way in hell they would be able to do much at all as they were, even if Nero was the only person they had to fight at all.

"Unless I find some damn super-mushroom that gives me a million experience points or whatever the hell I need we're in deep shit here." He said bluntly.

If only there were some sort of analyzing, strong, objective guy to help them out.

"The one time I need the bastard he goes and gets himself killed. I bet he laughed when he saw me get my ass blasted into that wall." He said while approaching the doors of his shop, which were currently opening.

When the opener, Lady, who looked like she was about to go out for a job, saw him she stopped in her tracks, looking at him and Saya.

"Dante, what happened?" She asked him as he continued towards the doorway.

"There was a lot of slashing, stuff blowing up and crazy assholes getting in our way. Nero turned out to be the deceptive bastard I thought he was, we killed two more of 'em and, oh yeah, Diva had to stay behind just for us to get away." He said, obviously conveying how pissed off he was.

"You ran away? And you left Diva there to fight them all herself?" She asked him, seeming genuinely surprised.

He wanted to tell her "hell no" or "I'm just giving them a bit until I kick their asses" or anything else that implied he was doing this because he wanted to. But he couldn't.

"Yeah." Dante responded simply as she stepped out of his way and he walked into the shop, where Haji had apparently been waiting.

Before he could say anything though, Dante made sure to tell him she was just unconscious.

Though the details of how it happened was something he left out.

As Haji took Saya from him and laid her down on a couch, he sat down in another one himself, while Lady closed the doors, walking back into the room.

He pulled Gemonia out of his coat and looked at it, surprised to see that half of the damage that was done to it had already repaired itself. And that the bloody twisted up piece he'd brought with him was now cut in half.

"What happened to your weapon?" She asked him while leaning against the pool table.

He glanced up at her before putting it back under his coat.

"That bastard twisted a piece off."

"You mean Nero?"

He gave a half-nod, as if not willing to talk about him.

"I'm surprised. I didn't think he was against us. I mean, if he wanted the three of you dead why didn't he just let that one guy blast you?"

Dante shrugged while leaning back in the couch.

"Guess it wouldn't be _productive_ or whatever."

"It was weird though. When he was talking it was almost as if he was-"

"I know. That's probably why he did it. Sounding like Vergil probably made him think it'd fool us. Guess it worked. More or less anyway."

Saya moved in her sleep, but didn't seem to be waking up yet.

"How do you think Diva is doing?" She asked while pulling a handgun out that was holstered behind her and setting it on the surface, she'd be more comfortable.

"I don't know. She learned how to use her sword right before we had to… leave. Not sure how strong she'll be."

"Do you think she can beat them all?"

He sighed, leaning forward again.

"…No way."

"You're lucky Vergil isn't here." She attempted, trying to make him feel a bit better.

"He would have gotten really mad that you left her behind."

Dante shook his head while lying down on the couch.

"No." He spoke as he closed his eyes.

"Vergil never would have left her behind to begin with."

* * *

I know it was shorter than the others but I didn't want them to just appear at the shop in some random chapter.


	22. Black and white, Question and answer

The ceiling was black.

The walls were white.

There were no posters or windows, ceiling-fans or lights.

Every border where they met was cleanly defined. Neither white nor black smoothed its way into the other's "territory".

That's the kind of room it was.

The door couldn't be seen, as the gaze was fixed on the ceiling for some reason.

It was surreal; the room looked, at a glance, to be orderly and resolute. Solemn.

Yet, to the gaze it looked…empty.

Suddenly the room shrinks and turns black, like the moon over a month, waning into nonexistence.

Then everything turns completely black.

There's nothing here, only one flat color.

No shades are fused.

No parts resemble another color.

Everything is just black.

Then two blue spheres roll and pale, peach-colored curtains with black "details" are pulled up.

And she sees the room again.

Her eyes blink a few times, the solid blocks of color hurting her eyes as she tries to wake up, but is unable to move.

The girl's body doesn't ache, as much as it simply can't be felt.

Yet she doesn't feel uncomfortable, looking up at the ceiling like this.

Her eyes can move now, though her head cannot, but even when they strain to look at the corner of their vision all they see is more of the same; black ceiling and white walls.

She wonders if this is some kind of hell; stuck, unable to move, and forced to look at flat colors that do not mix until the end of time.

There is nothing else in the room. No sounds. No smells. She cannot feel anything, nor taste.

A doors squeaks open, and her eyes try to find where it is, but cannot.

Her body still won't respond so all she can do is lie there, wondering if something will change.

It does; a person walks into her view.

The girl's eyes are glazed over, seeing as they want.

The person wears a long blue coat with a strange insignia along the length of one side, black pants and a black vest. Around its neck is a golden amulet with a red stone in the middle.

And their hair is white.

That is what she wishes to see, more than anything else.

But the coat shrinks to a jacket, the insignia overcome with blackness. And while the pants remain black like before, the vest is replaced by a shirt of some kind and the inner-color of the jacket is purple, with strange things on the side which connect, and an upturned collar.

And their hair is _black_.

That is what she actually sees as the person, the man, walks into the her eyesight and then turns towards her, standing still as he does so.

Her voice works, and she speaks.

"I thought that you were going to kill me." Diva said to Nero as he stood there, looking down at her.

"I changed my mind." He responded, his tone as flat as the rest of the rooms' colors.

"You don't seem like the person who changes his mind very easily. _Or _very often."

"When you first saw me enter, your eyes looked very different. Why is that?" Nero asked as if she hadn't spoken.

However, Diva is not eager to talk about it, and looks back up at the ceiling, boring though it may be.

"No answer?"

Still, while she doesn't want to respond, she doesn't want to be alone either. Not in a place like this.

"I thought you were Vergil."

"That's all?"

Her eyes look at him again.

"I don't like big explanations. Unless they are coming from a person with white hair and blue eyes."

"Oh?"

"Why didn't you kill me?" She asked, ignoring _him _this time.

His eyes blinked, something she didn't remember happening before.

"I do not know."

Though it strained her to do so, her head tilted just a centimeter out of curiosity.

Then a grin slipped onto her face.

"So that's why." She mused, closing her eyes once again.

"What is?"

"You won't kill me because you don't know why you won't. It's confusing."

He stood there, seeming to decide if that's what he thought before speaking again.

"Before you lost consciousness; you manage to hurt me again. Do you remember how you did that?"

Diva tried to think about what happened just before she fell asleep. But was unable to do so.

"Even though it hurt you to do so, you attacked me. Why did you do that?"

A slight itch on one of her elbows told her that it must have gotten broken.

Though the same feeling soon bothered her across the rest of her body too.

"Why did you hurt yourself before attacking me?" He asked again, making it shorter.

"My elbow might have been messed up. I don't know."

Nero waited a few more seconds before walking away again.

"I see."

"Now that you have your answer you want nothing more to do with me?" She asked him as he began to exit.

"Yes." He responded before closing the door behind him, leaving her alone in the boring room once again.

* * *

I know it was short, but for anyone who wanted to know if Diva was still alive, now they do.


	23. A hated teacher for a despised question

"About time." Dante remarked as he checked Gemonia for the last time, the weapon now having fully repaired itself and the separate piece missing.

It had taken hours for the thing to undo the damage it'd taken but now he was that much closer to being able to go back and fight.

Saya hadn't woken up yet, but from the way she kept moving in her sleep he was guessing she would be awake in only a few more minutes.

"Problem is, I don't know how crazy she's gonna be." He thought while putting Gemonia back under his coat as he tossed his legs off the arm of the couch and turned upright to sit in it.

"So have you thought about what you're going to do?" Lady asked him, having called the client only a few minutes after Dante had arrived and told them she would do it tomorrow.

"What do you mean?" He asked while scratching his neck.

She sighed before responding.

"What are you going to do this time? You said it yourself that if you just do what you did last time there's no way you'll win. So what are you planning to do differently this time?"

Dante only shrugged in response. But it was because he really didn't know more than him just blowing it off.

"I don't know. It's not like I can just look up how to use this thing on wikipedia or anything. And since the only person we know who has any idea what this is about turned out to be a rat we really have nothing to go on."

He heard Saya starting to wake up, and now focused on a way to get her to stay here until they figured something out.

Unfortunately, thinking things out and making plans weren't his specialty. So when she remembered what happened he had nothing.

Fortunately, when she tried to get up Saya immediately fell to the floor, so it looked like making a bee-line for the mansion wasn't exactly an option for her right now.

Fortunate for _Dante _anyway. As it probably hurt like hell to her.

But he didn't want to take the chance of her getting away, so he positioned himself between her and the doors to the shop.

Soon, with Haji's help, she was standing again, and looking at Dante like he was trying to kill Diva himself.

"Why did you do that?!" She spoke, suppressing her anger for the time being.

Lady and Haji both looked at him, obviously confused as to what she was talking about.

"I was the one who put her lights out." He spoke bluntly, not trying to glorify his reason for doing so.

Dante never felt the need to. It was what he wanted to do, so he did it. For him, it was that simple.

"I'm sure he just wanted to keep you from getting hurt." Haji quietly spoke, seeming to know where this would go if she got too upset.

Still, it surprised Dante that he hadn't instantly taken Saya's side simply because of who she was.

"I know that! But we didn't have to just leave her behind! There must have been another way." She said, quieting down near the end.

Most people would have used this as an attempt to let her calm down.

But… Dante _wasn't _most people.

So instead he scoffed, drawing her glare.

"The hell there was. If we'd gone back there to help her we would have all gotten our asses killed. She knew that, and so should you. You _were _the one who wanted to do it first."

"Then we have to go back and rescue her!" Saya retorted, trying to part herself from Haji.

"And do what? We aren't any stronger than we were before. Believe me, I'm the first guy to call when you want to go and kick some freaky ass. But I've also never lost. Today was my first time. I hate to be the one to have to pay attention to stuff like this but wouldn't that be like spitting in her face? If she was wiling to get herself killed so we could get away and then we just went back and got chopped up _ourselves_?"

Though hesitantly, Saya relented, and sat back down on the couch she'd been on before.

With a deep sigh she asked him what they should do now.

He saw Lady flash him a somewhat nervous look, as she'd asked him the same thing only a few minutes before, but luckily he'd come up with at least a way to stall her until he could come up with something.

"We need to get stronger. That's really all there is to it." He said, walking back over to his own couch and sitting down on it, pulling Gemonia out of his coat, showing Saya that it had healed.

"I don't know about you, but not many of my swords can repair themselves. And none of the other ones can fire bullets out of an attached barrel either. These things are really powerful. All we need to do is find a way to get better with them."

Saya pulled the red rose out of her pocket and gazed at it.

"But how are we going to do that? It isn't like normal training. We have no way to know if simply practicing with them will make us better able to use their abilities. And most importantly, we don't have that much time."

He nodded his head absently.

There really didn't seem to be any good way to do this.

"Well, I guess we could try just going there, sneaking in and trying to find Diva, then come back here. But I kinda suck at being stealthy." He remarked, aware the plan reeked of pre-failure.

Her return nod was as spiritless as his had been.

"I mean, unless _you _can think of something bet-"

He cut himself off as the front doors of the shop opened.

His mouth scowled as the others noticed who the "customer" was.

"What the hell are you doing here again?" He asked the man as he walked into the room.

"And do you really need to wear those bandages? Everyone knows who you are now anyway."

The black-suited man made his way across the floor towards them, but Dante didn't think he was here to fight.

Saya seemed equally interested in his reason for being here as well.

"You heard what he said; what are you doing here?" She asked him, abandoning her usual politeness on account of how he had hurt her before.

Still, Nero simply stood there for a few seconds without saying anything.

When their initial offensiveness seemed somewhere between calm and "kill him", he began.

* * *

I know it was another short and uneventful chapter but like I've said before, I hate just jumping to the parts I like and pretending like I told everyone everything. Not to mention this makes the good chapters look that much better.


	24. Solutions for weakness and boredom

"You two don't have what it takes to rescue her." He stated simply.

But, as they already knew that, neither really had much of a reaction.

"However, you can become stronger easily, if you practice." Nero continued as he took another step forward.

Dante scoffed in response.

"So what? Are you Mr. Miyagi now? Daniel-san, you must wax _all _the cars and paint _all _of the fence to further your training."

Nero barely regarded his insult, something that almost got him a sword through the head right there.

Saya was more cooperative though.

"She is alive then?"

He looked at her, actually seeming to focus, despite his usual bored attitude.

"Yes. And at the moment she is not in danger of being killed either."

Though the man was still a couple yards away, Haji still positioned himself between the two, should Nero decide to skip the conversation and begin fighting.

"But there is no way to tell how long the situation will be that way. If you want to save her, you have to become much more powerful before assaulting the residence again."

Dante rubbed his nose, showing his distaste for Nero's foreplay before telling them what they actually wanted.

"First he's our ally, then he kicks our asses, now he's back to the mentor again. What's next? Skulking around and mumbling "precious, my precious"?" He asked himself as his minute patience waned.

"Fortunately, you already have four of the five things you need to get started." Nero said, standing by a wall now.

"What would these things be?" Saya asked, easily having more patience than Dante despite the situation.

His eyes fixed on her from underneath the bandages.

The light reflecting off a tinted glass cup made his eyes look blue as opposed to the usual black.

It was almost like he was human now.

Then the eyes receded.

"Both of you and your two weapons." He stated simply.

Dante subtly shook his head, gesturing to himself how much of a waste of time this was.

"What's the thing we need? To give you our weapons and then jump in a volcano? Yes, that's a very helpful idea. Next!"

"Dante, please be quiet." Saya spoke to him, making his eyebrows go up in strange amusement.

"Oh? What? You want to listen to the rat-bastard that ran away when we needed him and then showed up to fight us when we were going to win? Not to mention who copped a chest-tearing feel?"

She gave a big sigh before focusing her eyes on him.

"Look, we don't have time for you to nick-pick everything he or I says. We aren't able to save Diva as we are now, so what's the worst he could do? What would he benefit from by coming here and making us fail when it's impossible for us to win anyway?"

Dante receded into his couch and relented the floor to Nero.

Saya nodded and returned to her previous position.

"Please, continue."

Nero's eyes glanced at her again before he re-began.

"All you need now is a big room to train in. A soul sword's powers increase when they clash with another. That is the reason Dante was able to utilize the more powerful attack from his weapon; because of the fighting that he engaged in with the pawn-class and the others."

Dante bit his lip, already going through venues in his head.

"So, you mean that if we fight each other, we will be able to use more of our swords' abilities?" She asked him.

He nodded in response before walking away from the wall.

"As things are now, you could, theoretically, go back to residence right at this moment and simply fight your way up through the ranks of their members. Defeating the weakest ones first to enhance your powers so that you will be able to fight the more powerful ones. However, that is too risky as if you don't gain enough strength by fighting them or are forced to fight one of the higher-ranking ones like me, you won't have a chance."

Dante grumbled something in his throat at the insult.

Saya though, like before, didn't have a problem with being too weak right now and spoke up again.

"So if we simply spar against each other we can become stronger and we don't have to worry about being killed or out-classed since we're allies."

Nero nodded.

"Correct."

As he continued towards her though, his "atmosphere" wasn't very hopeful.

"Still, you don't have much time. Really the only window of opportunity you have to train will be tonight. Tomorrow morning you will either go to fight them, or they will come to fight you."

"And why tomorrow morning?" Dante questioned, keeping the criticism at as low a level as possible.

"Ritorno wants them to fight on a full stomach, if you can believe that." Nero responded, surprising Dante with the way he say the sentence.

"You don't like Ritorno much more than we do, huh?" He asked with a grin, drawing a brief glance from the bandaged eyes.

"I don't. But I'm not in a position to attack him directly right now."

Dante chuckled before slamming his feet down on the floor, making Saya jump and Lady lean away, almost falling onto the top of the pool table.

"So _that's _it! You're using us as friggin' decoys and foxhounds to kill all the people around him so you can go in and kill him yourself while we're occupied ourselves!"

Nero seemed genuinely surprised by Dante's intuition, though he barely showed it.

"Yes. But I can't kill him if you aren't strong enough to stay alive and keep everyone else busy."

Dante waved him off while leaning back into the couch.

"Yeah, yeah. Alright then. But where exactly are we supposed to "train"? There aren't many rooms around that can stand up against a damn energy bomb."

Saya agreed with him for the first time since Nero had arrived.

"He does have a point, Nero. Not to mention even if they did survive the blast it would be very loud. We would have the whole police department storming in before an hour passed."

"I've already taken care of that. I know a person who specializes in demonic seals and other sorts of enchantments. He has a "shop" of sorts where he sells powerful items of a questionable nature. There is a room attached to his shop that is designed specifically to be a place where they can be tested out. It should suffice."

Saya nodded, and stood up.

Dante stood up as well, albeit hesitantly.

"You're ready to go now, I assume?" He asked.

Their expressions were enough for him to tell and turned away.

"Very well, then. Let's go."

* * *

She had been able to move for at least an hour now, though she was still weak, and had already explored the entire extent of the fairly small room.

After careful observation, Diva had discerned several crucial variables and formed a hypothesis.

This room was BORING.

It had turned out that not only were the ceiling and walls black and white, but the carpet was black as well. In addition, the only distinguishing feature of the room that made it stand out was that it had a private bathroom. Which had the same colors as the bedroom did only with a toilet, bathtub and sink.

The door to the hall or whatever lay outside was stuck as well and other than the bed, there was absolutely no furniture or anything else in the room.

But the lock was on the _inside_! So why didn't it open?!

She pouted while hammering her feet against the mattress, her normally inhuman strength limited while she was in here. So the bed did not break under an enormous force.

"This room sucks!" She declared.

There wasn't a TV or a radio or so much as a book. And she _never _read anything anyway!

It was completely beyond her how he could live in such a morose and stale little box like this.

"Wait! Morose? Stale? Vergil?" Her brain sparked and Diva leapt off the bed before turning back towards it.

She forgot to check one place.

It was the same hiding spot that Vergil had hid something in, though it was obviously a different person and a different room, it made perfect sense to her.

For Vergil it had been a picture she'd made him take with her that he hid and told her was ripped up.

"And for him…" She said, a glint of childish curiosity in her eyes.

"Cards!" She proclaimed while snatching the pack and holding it aloft like it was a holy object.

"Still kind of boring but oh well!" Diva said to herself while letting the mattress come back down and sitting on the bed once again, opening the pack and letting the cards come out into her hands.

As she looked at them though, Diva discovered that they were tarot cards.

She frowned while going through them.

"Well, that's no fun. I don't even know how to play with these." She remarked before the door to the room opened and Nero entered, closing the door behind him.

His gaze momentarily peered down at the cards before returning to look at her smiling face.

"You don't have any mental boundaries between other's property and your own do you?" He questioned while walking over to her.

"But I'm good at this!" She pretended while picking out a few cards at random and handing them to him.

"See?"

Nero eyed the cards before staring back at her face.

"You're going to die in eleven seconds. That's what they say."

Her head tilted in curiosity as the moments clicked by.

Eleven seconds passed.

Nothing.

So she shrugged and stuffed the cards into his hands.

"Guess not. Never-mind. You could stand to get something more fun in here though." Diva stated while scanning the room for anything interesting to her as he slid the cards back into their holder and pushed the pack under the mattress again.

"Most people would be grateful simply to be alive." He said while standing up.

She shrugged again.

"I'm bored."

Nero began walking away again.

"The only reason I came back was to make sure you were still here and that you hadn't began destroying everything."

"What would I do? Break your television?" She asked, still smiling.

He barely regarded her with a glance before exiting the room again, causing her to pout.

"He's even more tight than Vergil was." She complained.

* * *

Sorry about the tarot card thing for those who actually do it. I've never tried it myself so I didn't mean it as an insult or anything.


	25. Proceedings, bad and good

"So, this is the place huh?" Dante asked while turning around, checking it out.

Nothing that impressive. Just a big grey box with some runes here and there.

And the door was pretty much the same, only it was made of wood.

"But what the hell. We're not here to judge fashion sense, so let's get to it." He said, pulling Gemonia out from under his coat.

Saya didn't seem ready to fight yet, as she was still looking around. So he was forced to wait.

Nero was still standing by the doorway, though it looked like he was about to get going by the way he was leaning slightly away from them.

Saya had brought a change of clothes for her in case the fighting got too fierce for her current garments, but he'd be okay.

His clothes were tough enough to put up with some blood.

She set the cloth bag with the clothes down in a corner before walking towards the middle of the room and manifesting her sword, Nero having already left and closed the door in the few seconds he hadn't been paying attention.

"Dante, if we could, I'd just like to set up two rules."

One of his eyebrows raised.

"And they'd be?"

"One, no attacking the eyes or throat. And two, No taking it easy on the other."

His grin formed.

"Sounds good to me. One condition."

She stood, waiting for him to state it.

"No playing baseballs below the belt. Don't think I didn't see that thing ya tried against Nero back in the pit."

Saya nodded, and he got ready.

"Alrighty then. Let's rock!"

* * *

"This room is booooorriiiingg!" She complained, now hitting the mattress with both her feet and her hands.

"There's nothing to do!" Diva continued.

She'd slept and slept and slept. But now Diva had gotten to the point where she was so bored she couldn't even _sleep _anymore!

That had never happened to her before in her life. Ever.

"I can't do anything fun anymore either! I'm weaker than _Saya _now! I can't even push the bed away from the wall!" She continued wailing at an abnormally loud volume.

"I'd give anything- do anything to make this stop being boring!!" She said before quieting down.

Then the door opened and her smile returned.

"Hey, you'd better have brought me something-"

She cut herself off while seeing that the person was not Nero.

It was a man with a very dark tan and brown hair in dreadlocks.

"That true? Well I just so happened to have a cure for bored babe syndrome."

Her head tilted in cautious curiosity.

"What?"

* * *

"You're sure about this, Nero?" Bianco asked him as they sat in the two intact chairs of the gambling room. It was the only one that was small enough for them to occupy and still be sure no one was listening."

He nodded.

"Ritorno has taken his personal grudge too far. He is no longer fighting for the sake of us all. Just his own ambitions. It would not surprise me if all this was simply to get revenge on the man that killed his brother."

Bianco was his younger brother, but they'd never acted like anything other than friends.

Though both of them had similar facial features Bianco's hair was naturally very light and his eyes were such a light grey it almost looked as if he had no irises at all.

"Me either. It was obvious from the start that he was a selfish man. But… we can't defeat him either. That's the reason no one speaks up against him."

"The old are afraid to cut the few remaining years of their life short and the young simply don't give a damn." Nero expanded on it.

Bianco leaned his chin on a hand, which was positioned up on a wobbly-but-intact end-table.

"From the way you talk, it would seem as if you thought of yourself as something other than the two." He spoke with mild humor.

Nero glanced at him before looking back at a random pile of ruined slot machines.

"I guess it's because I feel like a person who's lived multiple life-times in a younger person's body. I feel worn-down by experiences I can no longer remember."

Bianco grinned before pushing away from the end-table and leaning back in his chair, closing his eyes momentarily.

"Fairly romanticized words for the normally logical you." He remarked.

Nero sighed.

"People like me are essentially waiting for the end of the world. We're too miserable to live, and too stubborn to die."

Bianco chuckled before opening his eyes again.

"Then what will it take for you to stop being miserable?"

Nero's gaze became empty.

He thought he saw some blue on the roulette wheel, and shook his head, coming back to reality.

"Nothing that is going to happen, unfortunately." He stated while standing up.

"What about that girl? Is she still alive?"

Nero glanced down at Bianco again before looking forward.

"Yes. She's resting in my room. But there's a power current around my room that lessens her abilities. That would be your doing I assume?"

Bianco shrugged.

"I can't have you getting killed now, can I? Then there wouldn't be anyone interesting to talk to. Watch yourself though. Hang out with a girl like that too long and you may start to develop some humanity."

Nero scoffed before heading towards a door.

"Fat chance."

* * *

"Damn. Guess she wants to rescue Diva a lot more than I thought." Dante guessed while taking deep breaths.

The normally structured and segmented fighting style that Saya used had already changed a lot, the girl having taken on a much more elusive approach than she had before.

And the both of them had already learned quite a few things that he thought would give them an edge when they went to fight the remaining freaks.

She sent one of the blood crescents at him, forcing Dante to dodge.

He barely even had the chance to look forward again before Saya's sword swung at him.

This time he struck her sword away, but she sent another crescent at him before he got the chance to counter-attack, forcing him to once again dodge and lay off as she retreated to her previous position.

"Still, I can't let her be the only one to get better." He reminded himself before running at her again.

* * *

"Hey, man." Mizu said in passing as Nero made his way back to his room.

He seemed awfully chipper for some reason.

"Such a strange, undisciplined man he is." Nero thought to himself.

The halls connecting all of their rooms were simple grey corridors; the actual personal "flavor" of a person only put into the individual rooms themselves.

"Though it's strange. I don't remember Mizu's room being in this general area." He continued to contemplate before forgetting about it.

There wasn't anything significant about it.

He reached the door to his room and opened the door-

-seeing the girl pulling her dress on.

He usually wasn't one to get openly irritated or even flustered easily. But this girl had absolutely _no _respect for other people's property.

"It would be appreciated if you could refrain from sleeping nude in my bed. I do intend to use it again."

She didn't turn towards him while answering.

"Sorry."

Nero actually felt himself show surprise at how she was acting.

There wasn't any happiness in her voice and she didn't seem giddy at all.

"But then I suppose there's no point in trying to expect that she would have a pattern to her behavior." He thought while entering the room.

"You wanted something to do, correct?" He questioned her as she pulled her long hair out of the neckline of the dress.

"I'm kind of tired now." She remarked, still sounding like she had just woken up.

The girl glanced at the bed before lying down on the floor.

"Maybe later."

Her habits were strange, but he admitted that she did give him some kind of variety to the otherwise boring day.

"Fine then." Nero said before turning to leave the room.

"Would you mind… staying here for a while?" Diva asked him, still not facing him.

Normally he would simply continue to leave, but he was curious, so Nero closed the door behind him and sat down on the floor near it.

"Thank you." She spoke, her voice fading to a whisper near the end as she curled up and lay down.

He didn't respond, but felt strange for not doing so.

* * *

dgraymanxxxx, I know it seems unlikely, due to his behavior, but he is a chevalier. He's just like Vergil in that respect; it isn't really overly obvious that he is, more like its something subdued.


	26. Too little red, too much white

"Dante, can we take a short break, please?" Saya asked him, about ready to fall down on her face.

He didn't seem to share the same sentiment, but lowered his guard slightly.

"Huh? What about all that determination you had before?" The silver-haired man asked her with a frown.

The momentary stop gave her time to catch her breath, even if it was in huge gasps.

"We've been fighting non-stop for hours now. I'm exhausted. I don't think I could move my body now if I _tried_."

His eyebrows rose and his grin returned.

"That so?" He asked before running forward and stabbing out with Gemonia, forcing Saya to sidestep.

He chuckled in response.

"Guess you're wrong."

She felt herself scowl at his immature methods of finding out if she could move.

"I'm serious! Besides, not all of us had pounds and pounds of nourishment that we require before coming here!"

He stuck a finger in his ear while putting on a bored expression.

"Told you that you could have some of the pizza if you wanted."

Through the gasping breaths Saya sighed.

"I meant blood."

Dante shrugged before casually strolling over to her and grabbing her sword, surprising Saya with his sudden movements.

He tightened his grip on the sword until it cut into his hand. Then he thrust it forward and rubbed the blood from his palm onto Saya's mouth before backing off.

"There ya go. That's all you're getting. Now come on."

She gave him her attempt at a cold stare while hesitantly drinking the blood until it was all gone.

The special ability of the sword took care of the rest and soon she felt normal again.

As she began to restart the battle, though, the door to the room opened and Nero entered.

Dante seemed disappointed by his sudden return but she was grateful, as she could still use a breather.

"What do you want?" He asked the man impatiently.

Nero barely regarded him while walking over to Saya.

"Your time to train is almost up. There is less than an hour left before you must prepare to leave." He told her.

She blinked in confusion.

"But we've only been training for a few hours now." She told him, sure that the night couldn't be over already.

"No. A full night has passed since I left you here. It is almost eight in the morning now."

It was surprising to her that time had passed so quickly while they were in here, but she was sure that they would be able to make do with the powers and abilities they had gained while training.

"When do we have to leave?" She asked him simply.

He waited a moment before responding.

"We have to get going by ten. But that refers to the time when we depart for the mansion. So, about an hour more of training. And another hour to get prepared."

She nodded, more to herself than either of them.

"Okay. Thank you. We'll leave here in an hour, and will meet you at the shop at ten."

Nero nodded and left again without a word.

Dante had been teasing her to get started, but Saya wasn't paying attention to him until now, interrupting whatever he was talking about.

"Okay, Dante. Let's continue." She said before taking a deep breath and running towards him again.

* * *

His eyes opened and Nero realized, with surprise, that he'd fallen asleep.

"I can't believe I allowed that to happen." He thought, trying to remember how long it could have been.

He always had a very good understanding of what was going on, even when he was sleeping. Because of this, his internal clock was always about as reliable as a real one.

From what he could remember and guess, it couldn't be much later than eight-thirty. Though he couldn't be sure until he checked an actual clock.

"I'll just go and see-"

Something holding him still kept Nero from doing so and he glanced down, seeing a slender, pale arm hooked around him.

Were he the kind of person to give overt physical reactions to things he probably would have shivered at the contact, but he wasn't, so Nero instead simply pulled the arm off him, waking up the girl who had been sleeping next to him in the process.

She crawled away in a pathetic manner as he stood up and worked any kinks out of his neck.

His eyes glanced down at her and he began to fear that she was going to throw up or something similar.

Going from being giddy and childish to quiet and depressed wasn't very common. At least not in the span of a few hours.

The only things he could think of that would do that were traumatic experiences and sicknesses.

"Can her kind _get _sick though?" Nero asked himself, curious if chiropterans, as they were called, got the common cold or flu.

With a mental shrug he walked over to her and started to turn her to face up so she wouldn't throw up on the floor.

But she shoved his shoe away and back-scrambled until she collided with the wall, not seeming to care about the collision's effect on her back.

It made him want to scoff, how strange this girl was. But then again she was only bait to get the other two to come as soon as possible. The only reasons he hadn't killed her before was, in addition to suddenly losing his taste for battle, there was no way to tell if Saya was able to discern if Diva was dead because of some kind of link between the two. Bait was no good in this case if it was dead.

Still, when she spat "don't touch me" in a strange almost manic tone Nero had to admit it still irritated him.

"Oh of course. If that is your wish." He responded, surprising himself that he was mocking her, even under the circumstances.

Nero normally wasn't a very sarcastic person; usually he just used straight-out insults.

But, like the other reactions she'd caused him to give her, it really wasn't all that significant.

It was somewhat amusing, however, that he had used that exact phrasing. Considering his "role" was being Saya's chevalier.

As he started to leave, she spoke up again, still not in a cooperating tone.

"Does that faucet in the bathtub work?" She asked him.

"Wonderful." He remarked in his head before telling her it did and leaving, still wondering what it was that had gotten her to act so strange.

* * *

"There's no way we'll be able to get back to the shop in time now, Dante!" Saya told him as they drove down a road towards Devil May Cry.

He was less-then-accommodating though.

"Don't try and pin this on me! You're the one who took so long to get changed! Not to mention my head still hurt's like a bitch from when you bashed it in with the bottom of your sword."

She looked out the window, trying to stay calm.

"It's your own fault for turning around before I said you could. And let's not forget your pizza-stop. How much of that can you possibly eat in one day? Not to mention that you never eat anything _except _pizza. My tongue would start hurting by now if that's all I ate."

He yawned, apparently tired from not taking a rest.

"Yeah, I can see how only drinking red kool-aid is a better diet. All those shades of crimson; such variety."

Saya sighed, hoping they would make it back in time.

It wasn't as if Nero wouldn't wait for them. But if the shop was attacked while they were away she doubted that Haji and Lady could defeat them with the weapons readily available.

"Would you please just drive faster? I'd be embarrassed if he had to wait twenty minutes for us to get back when we're planning on doing something as serious as rescuing my sister."

The car that they were driving in wasn't exactly modern, but luckily it had a top on it so she didn't feel too bad about squabbling with Dante in it.

"Yeah, about that guy. What "base" does that chest-tear count as? I can't really put my catching-mitt on it."

She gave an irritated sigh.

"Will you stop talking about that already?!"

He chuckled in response.

"Yeah, yeah. Alright. I'll drive faster. But if we get pulled over I'm making _you_ pay the speeding ticket. Those bastards always show up when they get to bust you as a result."

* * *

"You don't say?"

"Oh, yeah. All five of my senses, and several minutes of fun, can back me up. Trust me, it's not the kind of thing a dude like me forgets. She's there."


	27. Guilt

The water was hot, and made her body feel better. But that was all.

When she would get upset before, a bath would always make her feel better. After all, whatever happened that upset her was soon forgotten.

But that was only because her problems stemmed from a dress being torn, or Vergil skipping out to "work" when he'd said he would play with her.

It was never anything…

"Serious." She finished, speaking a word that she used even less than a torn-up dress.

Diva couldn't see, since the water weighed down her bangs and blocked off her view, but it didn't matter to her anyway.

Nothing this bad had happened to her since she lived in that tower in France. Or when Saya killed her back in New York.

If she'd only been as strong as usual, it wouldn't of happened. She would have decided she didn't want to do that, and just throw him through a wall.

But the part that really bothered her was that she couldn't do _anything _to stop it.

When she and Saya fought each other for the "last" time, both of them had known there was a possibility they would die.

And when Amshel had done whatever he liked with her back in the tower, Diva had never known anything else to compare it to.

More importantly, she hadn't felt truly happy before either of those times.

And yet now, after having had so much fun with Vergil and everyone else before, it wasn't even possible for her to really think about it.

She swallowed, unable to tell if she was crying or if the water was simply dripping down her face.

"If Vergil were here, he wouldn't have _ever _let anyone hurt me. That guy with the sunglasses, Nero, or…"

But he wasn't.

She knew she was crying now.

"Stupid Vergil. I didn't tell him he could die. Why did he? He can't."

Diva didn't know.

She'd never really reflected on anything she did. After all, to her, anything she did was just fine. So there was nothing to feel bad about unless someone else did something that bothered her.

In that case she would kill or eat them. Problem solved.

But when Vergil died, it had made her feel something she'd never felt before. _Ever_.

Guilty.

A normal person would reason to themselves that even if they had gone and helped him, there was no guarantee he would still be alive.

But she didn't care about that.

What mattered to her, was that she almost knew that Vergil was going to get hurt, but still didn't go just because he told her to stay still.

Even if Vergil just showed up after they got through this, she still didn't know if it would be possible to look at him again.

There was no reason for her to blame herself for it, but that never occurred to Diva.

As far as she was concerned, Vergil, the only person she really truly cared about, was dead because of _her_.

"I deserved that." She thought, remembering how horrible that man had been.

"More." She said, seriously contemplating just drowning herself. If she stayed dead at the very least Diva wouldn't have to worry about feeling bad.

The water felt very cold now, even though she knew it couldn't be.

"When Nero comes back I'll let him hurt me all he wants. That other man too, Saya, Dante, Haji, even Lady probably still doesn't like me because I bit her that one time. I can go find Kai too. David, Joel. All those other people. Anyone who'll hurt me."

"You're an idiot." She heard a voice say from in front of her.

Diva pulled the bangs out of her eyes while gazing up, her eyes widening so much they hurt.

"Vergil?" She asked, seeing him standing right in front of her.

It was him, she knew it. Every single detail about him was exactly as she remembered.

His perfect hair that always did exactly as he wanted it to. The blue coat that he'd offer her whenever she got cold. His black vest and pants looked like he'd just cleaned them. Even his sword's sheath seemed to be polished.

It was weird though, his face looked softer than she ever remembered it being. Well, aside from when he'd abandoned her in the demon world.

Of course, the fact that he was standing in the tub with her was somewhat strange too but…

"You're here!" She said loudly, more to herself than to him. As if proving it.

He smiled at her.

"I am. Cover up though, if you don't mind. You may not care but it embarrasses me."

It was done in a second and she nodded.

"Right! So why did you stay away so long?"

Vergil closed his eyes for a few seconds before responding.

"I had to make everyone think I was dead. As I was there was no way I could have won against Ritorno, so I faked death and hid. It hurt me so much to watch you get hurt all those times."

She smiled wider than usual.

"It's okay! Everything's fine! Now that you're here we can go tear Ritorno's head off and then go home! Maybe we can have a party! It'll be called the "Vergil's not dead, he was just pretending to be and now he's back so everyone be happy gala"!"

He chuckled in response.

"Isn't that a bit long?" He asked.

Diva didn't even think about it before nodding.

"Yeah! I'll change it! Doesn't matter!"

He laughed again before kneeling down.

"Diva?"

She began crying out of happiness, using all of her self control to keep herself covered and not just tackle him and nuzzle against the half-demon teddy bear.

"What is it?"

He leaned in towards her.

And his body changed.

His coat was drenched in blood, the vest torn open with a massive gash up his chest that stained his skin red. The normally perfect hair wild and unkempt. His sword's sheath was gone, and the broken blade of Yamato was encrusted with rust and mold. Vergil's face had gone from a pristine smiling expression to a grey, mucky one with his teeth looking like they'd been ground and a furious countenance.

The water was green and thick, like a swamp. And the air smelled like mildew and roadkill.

"You killed me!" He yelled at her, forcing her to scream and jump back, the crack in her skull not even noticeable compared to her terror.

She blinked, and he was gone.

But her eyes still held the image in front of her face like he hadn't vanished in the least.

The faucet wasn't going anymore, and in her obliviousness before Diva had accidentally unplugged the thing that kept the water in the tub.

All of it was gone and she fell forward, slamming her head against the hard ceramic.

The blood coming from the wounds in the back and now front of her head mixed with her tears as she lay, naked and shaking, in the tub, wishing she could just be torn apart.


	28. Unforeseen consequences

"I see that girl still hasn't finished with her bath." Nero remarked as he entered the room, seeing that at least she had the sense to close the door behind her.

But he'd left quite a while ago. It was strange that she was still in there.

"She didn't seem to have a cell phone or anything else like that on her before, so I doubt she's doing something sneaky. But still…"

His minor suspicion was more than enough reason to open the door to the bathroom and walk in.

There was no lock on the door as there would never be anyone else in his room under regular circumstances.

So, when he stepped into the room and saw the dress on the floor, as well as smelled the moisture in the air, Nero was fairly sure it was just a normal bath.

But he smelled something else as well.

"Blood." He thought while taking a quick step forward and looking into the tub.

It wasn't what he had been expecting.

Considering her behavior earlier, Nero wouldn't have been surprised if she'd managed to slit her wrist somehow. But instead it was hard to tell whether or not it was an accident.

That was until she looked at him with that dead expression of hers.

Either it hadn't been an accident, or something had completely burned her mind that she didn't care.

Regardless, she didn't look good. And there was no way to tell if the suppression of her powers was keeping her wounds from healing as well.

"What happened?" He asked her, not showing any concern in his voice.

Her eyes didn't even blink as she stared at him, not giving an answer.

Then, she asked him to hurt her.

Nero gave a single blink.

"You _wish _to be hurt?"

The girl nodded dumbly, like there was some kind of puppet-master making her do so.

His eyes gazed down at her, not noticing her nakedness.

"No."

Her head looked away from him before finally blinking.

It surprised him, but Nero grabbed a hand-towel from beside the sink and wet it before grabbing the girl's hair and pulling her head back; making her forehead more available to clean.

She seemed surprised as well as he wiped away most of the blood on her forehead before tossing the hand-towel into the sink.

"Try not to bleed all over the bathroom. Your sister may be able to feel it as well and I don't want to have to clean blood out of the tiles."

After his response her expression returned to normal and she looked away.

Nero waited a few seconds for her to get out of the tub herself. When she didn't he grabbed her dress and then her, pulling both up.

He gave her time to raise her legs over the boundaries of the bathtub before pulling her closer towards the dress- and him.

It was entirely unintentional on both their parts, but she stumbled into him, leaning on Nero for support, before he looked away and held out her dress.

"Put this on. I have no desire to tease around with you." He said coldly.

Still, she seemed uplifted, if only in a tiny way, at the way he acted.

At the very least, her expression didn't look as dead now.

"I don't care." He told himself as she pulled the dress on.

As she did, however, he noticed something; a mark on it.

"What is that?" He asked her, gesturing towards the tear along the seem of her neckline.

The girl glanced at it before pretending it wasn't there.

But that wasn't even close to a good enough answer to him and he pushed her up against the wall, examining what it was.

She didn't seem to realize what he was doing, as the girl was quivering. But he didn't care.

Marks like this did not come from anything he had in either of the two rooms, and they weren't there before.

They looked like something had pulled them apart.

He sighed, backing off.

"I really am getting too old." Nero remarked on his "unofficial" age and how his ability to notice things was getting dull.

"You. Why didn't you tell me what happened?"

She wouldn't look at him, but responded. Albeit quietly.

"I didn't think you would care. It doesn't sound like you do."

He looked away.

"You're correct. About you anyway. But I _do _care if someone enters my room as they did without permission."

The girl blinked before her expression became more depressed and she quietly nudged herself past him, making her way over to the bed before lying down on it.

"Such a strange girl." He thought while walking back into the main room.

"My, my. I'd heard it, but I admit, it really is surprising to see uptight-and-orderly Nero stowing away a fugitive little girl." He heard from behind him.

The scowl wasn't even completely on his face before he whipped around-

-and saw nothing.

A moment later Nero faced back towards the girl, and saw Ritorno standing there looking at him with that shifty grin his family was so famous for.

"Tsk, tsk Nero. You know that keeping pets is strictly forbidden here. What if she has an accident? What about food and water? Having a pet is a big responsibility. And based on how often you leave her unattended, I'm afraid if she were a goldfish, you'd have flushed her down the toilet already." He mused.

Nero's fists clenched even as the door to his room was opened.

"Hey, sorry man. But I just had to brag about breaking the teenage-looking kill-queen." Mizu said in a laid-back manner from outside the room.

"So, I take it _you _were the one who informed Ritorno about her being here." He said, not amused.

Mizu only shrugged in response before Nero spoke up again.

"Perhaps your concern should be with our tanned rapist- molester- I'm not sure how it works in this case. But regardless, he has absolutely no discipline for someone with such a high ranking."

Ritorno feigned a sigh.

"I don't care about that, Nero." He said, still grinning.

"What?!"

Their "leader" glanced over his shoulder at Diva, who Nero couldn't afford to look at right now.

"As far as I'm concerned, this little tramp's usefulness is more than outlasted. If her body can uplift the spirits of anyone around here by being treated like a whore at the expense of her- haha- sanity. Then so be it. It's of no concern to me."

Nero's eyes narrowed.

"You're absolutely disgusting, do you know that?"

Ritorno chuckled.

"What's a demon and what's an angel depends on who you ask. None of us are perfect." He said before his grin turned into a smirk.

"Mizu, as a reward for being the one to tell me about this little event, feel free to take the girl as your very own little pet. Put a leash on her, shave her hair off like one of those little toy dogs, or whatever else you please."

Nero didn't know what to do as Mizu's disgustingly casual face lit up and he thanked Ritorno before grabbing Diva's arm and pulling her off the bed.

Of course, now that an actual threat was present again she'd abandoned her masochistic doctrine and began to struggle against him as hard as she could.

But her powers were still unusable because Bianco's power-sealing ability hadn't ceased so she was barely able to put up a fight as he pulled her over to him and dragged her out the door.

Nero blinked in confusion as he noticed Diva was still unable to release herself from Mizu's grip even though she had left the room, and Ritorno positioned himself between Nero and the exit.

"Before we came here I had Bianco put a constant power-limiter or whatever it is around the girl herself. It won't matter if she's in here, in Mizu's room, or China. That girl won't be any stronger than a normal sixteen-year-old until the limiter is removed."

It had been a long time since it happened, but Nero actually began to feel sweat forming on his brow.

"Then I'll tell Bianco to-"

His sentence was cut off as a hand thrust into his stomach.

_Into_.

He looked down in shock at Ritorno's bloodied hand which now lay imbedded in his chest up to the main knuckles.

Ritorno gave a sound of satisfaction before withdrawing his hand and letting him fall to the floor, gripping the wound.

It was unbelievable! He hadn't even dreamed that it would… Nero hadn't seen it coming at all.

Everything else was always something he saw. He didn't know, what was happening?

His thoughts didn't form together entirely, but all of his senses, especially the pain one, were working fine.

He saw his blood began to spread out in a pool around him, smelled the polish on Ritorno's shoes, and heard him speaking a phrase aloud. It sounded like the grim-reaper's scythe swinging back and forth through the air.

"Darken this world and fill it with hate. Make all those with fragile hearts lie prostrate. Envy, Greed, Pride and Wrath… Sloth, Lust, Gluttony and death… sins of none and sins of all, let them fill and fuse in this thrall. Make them die away and give them the truth they seek…"

A blade stabbed through his back, and all Nero's senses but his hearing faded away.

"Show them that in the end…they're all just weak." He finished.

Then Nero's _hearing _vanished as well.


	29. Troubled heroes, confident monsters

"What the hell's keeping him?" Dante asked no one in particular as the four of them waited outside the shop for Nero to arrive.

Though Lady and Haji weren't coming it didn't mean they couldn't wait as well for the strangely-late man.

"It's almost eleven. Where is he?"

Saya shook her head.

At first he had wondered if Nero was playing against them now that they were stronger. But the thought had slipped out of his mind when he realized them getting killed here wouldn't give him much of an opening at Ritorno.

Still, though, Dante wouldn't have figured him to be the kind of guy that would be late.

They tried to pass the time by discussing how they would go and try to find Vergil down in the demon world. But as the only ones of them who had actually been on the "other side" were Vergil and Diva, the group was at a loss as to how they would do it within the first few minutes.

"We can take 'em even if Nero doesn't help us. But I don't like not knowing where that guy is." He thought out loud.

Saya bit her lip a bit as she looked down the street towards where they estimated Nero would come from.

"I don't know how we'll find our way around though." She added.

Dante nodded, remembering how big that place had looked. But if the rooms just led from one to another they would be able to find their way with some time.

"Maybe he isn't going to show up." Lady offered, voicing the thing everyone had been thinking.

However, as they began talking about how much longer to wait before going on their own, footsteps could be heard coming down the dark street.

Dante thought a bit on how strange it was that at eleven in the morning the sun was still just rising, but then decided it didn't matter to him and Nero walked towards them.

His expression tightened when he saw Nero's hair exposed, the bandages no longer covering the very top of his head.

But the hair was now white.

Nero's hair-style was exactly the same as when they had seen him without his disguise on in the "pit". But, though it was white with pigment, the original color had completely vanished.

It almost reminded him of Vergil, albeit with a different style.

As the man approached them, sheathed-weapon in hand, Saya took a step towards him.

He came to a stop near them and Saya reached out a hand, touching his hair.

"Nero…what happened to you?"

The hidden eyes peered out at her for a moment before he turned away.

"They found out that I am helping you. Ritorno stabbed me with his sword. As a result, my body aged decades before I could escape." He responded, walking out of reach from her.

Dante blinked.

Nero's skin still couldn't be seen in the least, due to the bandages covering every part of him that the suit did not, aside from the hair.

But he _did _look somewhat decrepit.

Saya brought her hand back down to her side before whispering another question.

"And Diva?"

Nero trembled before falling forward, barely keeping himself from falling to the ground by thrusting a leg out.

"She…was taken away." He responded, forcing himself to stand up again.

"Sorry. I'm still not used to this body." Nero continued before turning away from them again.

"If we are to rescue your sister and kill Ritorno, now is the best time to strike. They won't be expecting that I'm alive, so we can catch them by surprise."

Dante was surprised that Nero was so eager to do this after having almost been killed by that Ritorno guy.

"But I thought you guys were all human. If he stabbed you, wouldn't you be dead by now?" He asked, not sure if it was out of suspicion or just plain curiosity.

Nero sighed, showing that he definitely seemed less patient than he used to be.

"The higher-ranking ones of us are stronger than the ones you fought. We are more durable."

Eventually Dante just accepted it with a shrug.

"Alrighty then. Ready when you are."

He nodded before looking back at Saya, who said she was ready as well.

Then they started walking off towards the mansion.

* * *

"Now then, is everyone here?" Ritorno asked them all as they sat down in the chairs that stood next to the table.

Thankfully when those pansy-attackers fought here, little damage had been done to the chairs or table, so there was nothing to worry about.

The whore and that worker-peasant were both dead, and he guessed that eventually their bodies would have to be removed on account of the smell that they would soon be emanating. But that wasn't anything too worry about right now.

"Nero doesn't seem to be here." He heard coming from the seat next to Nero's empty one.

"Nero won't be attending this, or any other meetings from now on, Bianco. I'm sure you understand."

Though it seemed to upset the man that his elder brother was dead, he acknowledged it.

So Ritorno nodded.

"I'm glad you agree with me. Anyone else have an objection?"

They were silent.

He chuckled before continuing on.

"We already have one of the swords. All that is required is one more. Still, if you happen to encounter them, feel free to take both. Better to have more than you need and throw away the junk, than to miss the chance to get something that could be valuable."

(Heavy breathing)

"In any case, they should be coming back soon. I'm sure Dante's weapon has already repaired itself. But there shouldn't be any problems. They're as weak as they were before. It should be easier than killing a baby. More or less anyway."

(Heavy breathing)

He gave a mental sigh, glancing over at the sound, before continuing again.

"I want the same three Nanbas to occupy the "play room" again in case they go that way. Everyone else can wait down below."

(Heavy breathing)

Ritorno gave an audible sigh before focusing over on Mizu, who seemed to be taking this all in with casual enjoyment.

"Mizu, if you don't mind, what is with all that noise over there? You know I don't like being interrupted." He teased.

The man glanced down behind him before shrugging.

"Guess I've got the collar on too tight. Not meant for people. If it makes you feel any better, the girl at least doesn't wail and cry anymore. Turns out like the babe is now, only a few good smacks quiets her down."

Ritorno leaned back in his chair.

"Well, isn't that interesting? Really though, I don't care what you do. Make her be quiet, please."

"Yesir." He responded like they were joking around before bending over the chair and giving several loud strikes to the noisy girl.

"By the way, I want you to stay in your room the whole time after this. Since that's the only one they absolutely have to go through to get where the rest of us will be, it'll mean you can stop them if any of the others fails." He continued on, ignoring the crying.

Eventually, with a crack, the noises ended, and he gave a sigh of relief.

"This is getting boring, everyone. Let's make the next time they fight the last time, shall we?"

They agreed before he pushed his way up and out of his chair.

"Well, then. This meeting is adjourned. Mizu, make sure you stay put down there. And try to keep her unused enough so that you can still fight when they find you. I would be embarrassed for all of us if one of our strongest members was caught by the enemy with his pants down."

They all stood up.

"We'll clean the rest of them up and get back on track. Who knows? Maybe there'll be time for lunch afterwards before dinner."


	30. Change of character

"So…do we wait or what?" Dante asked the other two when all three of them realized no one was in the lobby.

She had been expecting for at least two more of the lower-ranking members of either side to be waiting for them like before, but apparently they'd earned more credit than that, as the lobby, and the balcony above it, were both completely void of any signs of life.

"Or they don't think we're worth the time." Saya thought, contrasting her previous idea.

Nero was surprisingly the one to respond.

"I'm not sure what they are up to, but waiting here is simply not an option. Time is running out. For our chance to kill Ritorno, and to rescue Diva."

She was somewhat surprised at how he had referred to her by name as opposed to title, but decided it wasn't significant.

"Agreed." Saya contributed, already starting for the first-floor door.

"Wait." Dante spoke up, stopping her and causing her to look back at him.

"What is it?" She asked, anxious about taking her time to find Diva now that she was so close.

He was over by one of the chairs, knelt down and examining something.

With a sigh, Saya came over to him, frustrated that he couldn't simply answer.

As she did though, he quickly stood up and tried to edge her back towards the door.

"Uhh. Nothing. Nothing. Let's keep going."

But his sudden change of attitude was suspicious, and made her focus on the spot he'd been kneeling next to.

Now that she thought about it, the area did look a little different than the rest of the red carpet.

And it smelled like…

"Blood." She said out loud.

But that alone wouldn't have been enough to make Dante try and get her to leave.

Saya pushed passed Dante, who gave an overly-deep sigh, as she knelt down where he had been before, finding several long black strands of hair.

"Nero, where did Ritorno attack you? Was it here?" She asked, her voice tightening.

Surprisingly, it took him a few seconds to respond.

"No. In my room."

She nodded, very slowly, while trying to focus her sense of smell; not used to having to sniff for blood.

"Hey, uh, Saya. Let's go into the kitchen. I'm sure there'll be some blood there to. Or raw meat or something-"

"I know what you're trying to hide from me, Dante. And I don't like it." She responded quickly while standing back up.

"Black hair and blood. There is a microscopic trail of the latter up that ramp to the left. If it belongs to who I think it does I'm checking _it _out _first_."

Neither of the two men spoke up as she turned towards the ramp that led to the upper floor.

"You're welcome to wait for me here, if you don't take this seriously. If it's nothing, I'll be back in a minute."

As she spoke, Nero was already heading through the doors at a brisk pace.

Saya didn't know how he could consider himself her chevalier if he was always abandoning her, but didn't really care right now either as she made her way towards the ramp.

Surprisingly, Dante followed. Though she got the feeling it was less to help her out and more to keep her under control should she discover something upsetting.

The trail wasn't even visible to her eyes. It would probably be so even if the carpet wasn't red to begin with, but she could tell that it led all the way up the ramp, and through the only door on the upper level.

She abandoned any sort of tactics or caution; opening the door quickly and loudly.

But there was no one inside as she entered, the woody slamming into the wall of the room.

The room was more or less the way she remembered leaving it, but a few of the surviving chairs had apparently been recently used, and there was another smell in here as well.

It was equally as faint, but she didn't recognize it.

Her nose led Saya over behind a particularly large mound of rubble, bigger than a full-grown man and about the length of one, composed mostly of piled-up broken slot machines.

Both of the smells were present here, though it was apparently where one ended and the other originated.

Based on the fact that there was no other blood trail that her attuned sense of smell could detect, Saya was willing to bet the blood had originally come from the lobby and led here.

"What is that other smell though?" She asked the room.

Dante was behind her now, looking down at where she gazed.

But his foot was trying to subtly push something beneath a leg-less table in a very suspicious manner.

However, Saya was _not _in the mood for any underhandedness right now and she shoved him out of the way, grabbing the thing in question and pulling it up in front of her all in one move.

Her eyes widened when she saw what it was.

"A dress?" She asked, beginning to feel an emotion she generally tried to suppress build up.

"Not _a _dress…" Saya continued, her hand clenching into a fist.

It was at this moment that she realized Dante seemed to have an idea of what the smell was.

She didn't know how it was possible to tell, as Dante barely looked any different than he normally did, but Saya didn't care as she turned to face him.

"Dante? Do you know what this smell is?" She asked, keeping her voice unusually calm.

He scratched the back of his head.

"Uhhhh. It's hard to say, ya know? Um, could be cat-piss. Or something else like tha-"

"Stop trying to protect me! I'm old enough to be able to hear things that I may not like."

Dante sighed, seeming to put a lot of effort into simply ignoring her.

Her irritation grew by the nanosecond, and she was about to simply demand that he tell her what the smell was she noticed something else.

She wasn't very familiar with this smell either, but was able to discern what it was.

It smelled like sweat.

She dropped the dress in her hand as she desperately fought against the urge to simply tear the walls down.

Her hands trembled and for the first time in her life, Saya _wanted _to kill someone.

Not out of a feeling of obligation.

And not to protect someone that she cared about.

But simply to hurt someone that she hated.

When the tsunami of wrath receded into the infinite ocean of the same emotion, she took a deep breath, and walked towards the door that led to the coliseum.

Dante shuffled along after her, seeming surprised that they were going this way.

"Uh, Saya. The ramp's-"

"I know." She responded, still keeping her voice unusually calm.

"I'm just going to check and see if any of the… things, are in that pit."

"But we don't have time, like Nero said." He spoke, seeming to try and get her to calm down.

"I _am _calm." She reassured herself inside her head.

"Very, very..._calm."_

"We have time for this. I just hope I get the chance to fornicate one of those bastards with their own swords." She said, hoping- _praying _that there was something to take her anger out on in the next room.

* * *

It wasn't my best chapter by a long shot, but I wanted to get them into the mansion, and give Saya a very good reason to try and kill someone.

Mizukage2, it's easy for me to see your point relating to my ability to let Diva get hurt in my stories. Now that I think about it, that actually seems to happen a lot in most of them. But I think that I'm trying to get people to feel sorry for all that is done to her. Something good out of something bad I suppose you could say.

For everyone, my site has several added things now. Including advice from Vergil, Diva, Dante, and, if you're lucky, maybe you'll get to catch Jester's "Bubble-forecast". In addition, I set up a forum(on this site though. Ha). My original inspiration for this sequel is already a topic there, and feel free to say how much you want Vergil to come back or for people to stop picking on Diva. Who knows, if you wish hard enough, and knock your magical red slippers together, it just might happen.


	31. Dead man, cold girl and enraged sister

"Damn…it." Nero managed to force out through his lungs as he pushed himself up from the ground.

That sword had sucked almost all of his life out of him. Simply by piercing his body.

To be honest, he'd never believed the story that Ritorno's weapon could simply drain the life out of whomever it touched. Just a fairytale to frighten the weaker members of their group into cooperating. That's what he'd thought.

Obviously, he had been wrong.

All of the color from his hair had been asphyxiated and now it just barely managed to hold onto a white shade, threatening to lose its pigment entirely.

His skin resembled that of a dead man's, the paleness of it echoing a ghoul's dry, willowy surface.

Obviously, there was no way for him to tell if the same thing had happened to his eyes, since there were no mirrors around where he was.

His bathroom was only a few feet away, as no one had bothered to drag his "body" somewhere else. But he had no desire to go and look at himself in _its _mirror.

"That is unimportant." Nero said to himself while pushing away and up from the floor.

Eyes, skin, hair, clothes… those were unimportant in battle.

And that's all that was left.

There was no point in trying to get better now. Nero had no guarantee that any form of his previous strength would return in time.

"I can't believe I allowed myself to get beaten that easily. One attack. It's unacceptable." He continued while looking down at the sheets on his bed.

Considering what had happened there before, several other things were higher on his list of ways to conceal his identity than simple bed sheets.

"Again, it doesn't matter." Nero told himself, pulling the sheets off of the bed with a light strain before tearing at them.

All that he needed were things to help keep his body temperature at a decent level, as his hypothalamus, a part of your body that controls its overall temperature, had weakened substantially.

It was strange though. He could just barely detect a scent coming from the sheets as he tore them apart and wound the things around his neck, and then his head.

The scent reminded him of Diva, who he had until-recently chosen to not refer to by name.

"I have no idea what is going on." He testified, as if there was a court hearing going on inside his mind.

"One thing is certain though, I'm not going to let Ritorno get away with this."

The room seemed so much colder now, not just because of his body, but simply because all of his strength was gone as well.

Walls, ceilings, floors, doors, windows, mirrors, fabrics…they all seemed so much sharper and stout than they had before.

Nero allowed a single laugh to come up through his throat, even such a subtle thing rare for him to do.

"How ironic. While I still had life in me, everything seemed unreal. Now that I'm near the brink of death, the world has seemed to finally decide to exist."

He ignored how strange his words sounded while stretching out an arm and bandaging up one of his un-aged, but frail-looking hands.

Nero repeated the process while covering the other one as well, making sure both of the wristbands, his sealed weapon's form, were present.

They were, so he could fight.

"I will kill Ritorno." He told himself, as if his body needed that simply to move towards the door.

One of his hands reached out towards the door handle of the room.

"And then…"

He turned the door-handle and pushed open the door.

* * *

She was wet, and it was cold.

The pool of water that she sat in was like ice, and made her body shrink.

It was almost as deep as she was tall, but luckily shallow enough for her to be able to simply stand in it.

All around the pool of chilly water lied sand.

There wasn't anything strange about it. The color was a golden tan one, it was all soft and really, not all that significant.

At least it _wouldn't _have been if it wasn't an island in the middle of a shallow, ocean-like area in a massive underground room.

It had been quite a while since they came down here, but she still remembered how soft and warm the water that surrounded the little island had been, compared to the freezing and almost "sharp" feeling of the naturally-formed pool she now resided in.

The whole room must have been hundreds of feet long and wide, and the whole extent of it was painted sky blue, with a large, single sun that illuminated the whole thing.

Had she cared, Diva might have assumed that it was meant to mirror a tropical paradise of some sort. But she didn't.

It didn't matter if the sand around her was soft or if the water that surrounded _that _was _warm_.

What _did _matter was that her hands and feet were bound, that she had nothing on, and that she was forced to wait in a pool of cold water meant for a refreshing drink as that man went to get some warm soup to eat for himself.

Needless to say, she wasn't very content with the way things were going.

At least in that messed up casino room the carpet had been soft and relatively warm. And in the hall a lot of people had been around. But this was cold, uncomfortable and lonely.

Most importantly, she hadn't re-imagined Vergil again since the last time and was starting to get rather depressed.

What the man was doing to her felt horrible, but it had happened before.

Early on after she'd been released from the tower and left that horrible place, Amshel had made her do a variety of things simply so he could see how she would react to them. And most of them had been quite un-enjoyable and entirely not consensual.

The cold and otherwise uncomfortable atmosphere merely echoed the days in that accursed tower.

But what really stood out was how kind he had been to her before turning into a corpse and telling her that she'd killed him.

Diva had heard of things called traumatic experiences but until now, never truly understood what they actually meant.

Of course, there were a variety of things to worry about right now, namely that man coming back. Being killed or simply freezing to death as she was now were also mind-tugging thoughts.

But it wasn't just bad news.

After all, if she died, regardless of the way, she would get to go see Vergil again.

The thought excited her. Thoughts of dying faded from her mind, but the simple fact that something so simple could bring her back to him was exciting to say the least.

Unfortunately, it didn't look like that was going to happen though.

He had seemed quite content just doing what he had done to her so far, and she doubted it would ever get any more serious than that.

And as much as she wanted to see Vergil, Diva knew that if she killed _herself_ he would be mad at her when they met again.

She sighed as the trap-door to the room opened.

The trapdoor was in the ceiling, which was several yards above, and a solid ladder led down from it. On the other side of the room she had been able to make out a door of some kind, but didn't get the chance to look at it that much before being thrown in here.

Hopefully since this gathering of water was so cold he wouldn't come into it as well. That at least was something good to dwell on.

"Saya's safe anyway." She thought, as her "boss" had told her not to talk. Something she abided to while he was around.

It was somewhat warming to think that she'd saved her sister from the same thing. Diva didn't know why, but it made her feel a bit better, even as her body seemed to grow colder as he walked through the shallow water towards the island.

Of course, her big sister wouldn't be willing to just stay safe; she would be coming back to rescue her.

Either way it looked like she could have a happy ending.

All she needed to do was take what was done to her until she was either killed or Saya came and rescued her.

She smiled, but didn't know why her eyes were crying.

* * *

"Agh. Come on, damnit! Just hold up a sec will ya?" Dante bothered her again as she stamped down the hall.

The "pit" could be seen at the end of it, and she knew that there _had _to be _someone _waiting down in it for them.

She could almost smell them. A thing that normally would have frightened her but now, if only for a little while, made Saya grateful she was a chiropteran.

After all, if she couldn't smell blood who knew how hard it would be to find someone to let her anger out on?

Her feet continued to stamp into the rocky floor as they both made their way down the corridor and she briefly thought on how strange she was acting.

Marching off in anger to recklessly attack an enemy simply because she hated them not only wasn't like her, it was normally something she would be completely incapable of doing.

But that didn't matter to her right now. Only two things did.

The first was finding her sister, and the second was hurting the bastards who'd hurt her.

As the corridor came to an end and she stepped out onto the second-floor landing, Saya thanked her lucky stars that there were actually enemies down there to fight. The same ones they had fought before no less.

If there hadn't been, she honestly didn't know what she would have done.

* * *

The quality wasn't as good as before, but I suppose this is better than nothing.


	32. Same battle, different outcome

"Well, gee. That's a relief." Dante remarked when he saw the trio from before standing down in the gladiator pit, apparently having been waiting for them.

Saya had chugged like a crazy train down through the hall and he bet she'd been as hopeful there would be someone to fight in here as he had.

"Can't really blame her though. All things considered." He told himself, remembering the distinctive smell from the other room.

He really hoped Vergil _wasn't _alive. If he was, there would be a whole lot of R-rated stuff going on once he found out what they'd done to Diva.

Dante thought about it for a few seconds.

"Nah. Make that NC-17 for limitless violence and gore." He re-decided.

Really though, Dante didn't know how anyone could do that to Diva. It wasn't that he was talking about morals or any kind of crap like that. There were a _lot _of messed up people in the world. What he meant was that even if her sword was taken away, Diva being helpless seemed like one of the things on the "No way in hell" list of the world.

"Dante, fight them with me if you want to. Just please stay out of my way." Saya told him, not bothering to look back.

He scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll watch my ass. You just make sure you don't get messed up."

Saya didn't respond for a few seconds, and then pulled the red rose out of her pocket, the flower extending and changing shape until it took the form of a nihonto katana.

"I'll be fine." She said, stepping off the landing and allowing herself to fall down into the pit below.

He gave a light-hearted sigh before pulling Gemonia out from under his coat and hopping down into it as well.

All three of them were already facing him and Saya, and they seemed to be quite confident as none of them had so much as released their weapons.

"You know, guys, it's kinda bad manners for you to treat us like we can't even hurt you." He said, dragging Gemonia lazily along the ground behind him.

They separated, putting some space in-between each other.

Kishi though, of course stepped out in front of the other two.

"There is no need to be concerned." He began, a possibly unintended arrogance in his tone.

"You are only two people this time, after all. And we will neither give you enough time to use that blast of yours, nor allow the same thing to happen again."

He chuckled, rubbing his nose as they approached the trio.

"Well, well. I guess you've got it all figured out then, huh?" Dante asked.

Without another word, the three of them released their weapons, and a barrier temporarily appeared in front of Shookyu and Tenshukaku, the "bishop" and "rook", as Kishi split in two and both suits raised their lances.

The hole that Dante had put in the fake suit was gone now, so it was impossible to tell which was the real one.

Before he could ask Saya if they should get started though, she ran towards the twin Kishis with her sword ready.

They lunged forward and thrust out at her with their lances, but she jumped up above their attack and landed on them, like Diva had done in the previous fight.

In an attempt to throw her off, they separated their lances and swung them away.

But it wasn't enough and she managed to stay on one of their weapons before jumping up through the air and diving past the suit, cutting across the neck area before she landed on the ground.

The helmet fell back and crashed into the ground, followed by the rest of the armor. However, when she was forced to roll away to avoid another attack both of them knew it had been the wrong one.

Still, Saya wasn't going to give the pair a chance to re-coordinate and swiped at the pile of broken armor, sending a crimson crescent through the air and scattering the metal pieces further away from each other. As a result, they couldn't form back into a single, united suit of armor before she once again ran towards them, this time obviously going after the real one.

Kishi just barely managed to avoid getting his carotid artery sliced as he shambled over behind the barrier Tenshukaku had created.

As he did, Saya put a foot out in front of her and shifted, facing the three of them again, not so much as breathing hard.

Kishi, on the other hand, was hunched over trying to _catch _his breath.

"How…can they be so fast? Shookyu?" He asked as his body heaved.

The priest seemed at a loss for words, and only stared at Saya, who obviously was giving a rather intimidating look towards the three.

"Just wait until you regain your breathing, then you can attack again." Tenshukaku added when Shookyu didn't speak up.

But Saya didn't seem to be willing to wait that long, as she fixed her eyes on the ceiling of the huge room and sent another crescent off her sword, this time aiming at the stone high above.

Surprisingly, Tenshukaku's barrier didn't appear to reach up that high and Kishi once again had to make a cumbersome dodge to avoid a piece of falling ceiling.

"It seems yours barrier isn't all-encompassing." Saya stated as she gave a deep breath.

"But I don't have the time to bring down the entire ceiling. So come out now and face me, or I'll bring down the barrier myself." She said, her body seeming at the very peek of tension.

"Don't be so arrogant! Just because someone else brought down the barrier before doesn't mean that _you _can!" Shookyu finally managed to say, though sweat appeared to be forming on his face.

Dante couldn't really tell since he hadn't taken another step forward since the fight began.

"I take it you refuse to come out then?" She asked, all-but ignoring his statement.

When none of them replied she once again took a deep breath.

"If that's what you've decided."

Seconds passed and soon the whole room was silent as everyone waited for what Saya was going to do.

That's what he'd thought anyway.

In reality the fake suit of armor had apparently been busy re-coalescing and not a moment went by after it formed before the thing thrust its lance at her spine.

But as it did, the whole thing suddenly was smashed backwards and once again fell apart.

This time, however, there was a crimson liquid that lay on the armor, and the metal began to melt away; eaten up by her acidic blood.

Before the three even had time to gasp, however, Saya began sending a barrage of massive crescents and crystals, all red in color, at the barrier.

There was no telling how strong the barrier was.

Dante's strongest blast, the Lamicanhao, quite possibly had the ability to sink a battleship with a single attack. When measured against something like that, you couldn't exactly called whatever it vaporized "weak".

At the same time, it didn't really matter, as whatever the barrier was made of slowly seemed to be eroding from the constant exposure to her lava-like attacks.

The ground around her sizzled as the splashes that bounced off the barrier melted through the hard stone floor.

Expectedly, the three men weren't doing much in the way in facial expressions other than gaping as the barrier finally shattered.

Saya didn't so much as hesitate when the translucent force-field disappeared, and instead sent her next attack at Tenshukaku, who didn't get the chance to erect another line of defenses before a crescent cut through his head and sent it flying away into a wall.

Thankfully, any gore that would have been visible was covered by Saya's blood as it ate away at the still-standing body.

Shookyu took a step towards his comrade, probably making an attempt to heal him, but even if he himself hadn't been encompassed in a blanket of wet crimson only a few seconds later, Dante doubted it would have made a difference.

How can you heal something if it's constantly being melted away into nothing?

He didn't know and ten seconds later, when Kishi was a puddle of mush like the other two, Dante suspected no one else really cared either.

The gruesome scene, as well as all of the blood, vanished when Saya's sword shrank back down to the rose form and she once again put it in a pocket.

However, his young-looking companion was heaving the whole time it took him to walk over to her and he still had to give her a few seconds before she could stand completely upright again.

Dante sheathed Gemonia back within his coat as he gazed at the various erosions in the arena, the whole thing almost looking like some kind of twisted artwork.

"Hell hath no fury like a woman spurned…" He thought, a slight amusement in his tone, despite it was internal.

"It may not be true, but it's certainly as hell high on the list.' He finished before asking Saya if she would be alright.

She nodded before taking a much deeper breath than before, and began breathing normally again.

"Yes, I just pushed myself too hard."

Dante shrugged while walking forward.

"Well, you certainly seemed to burn off some steam."

She managed a light chuckle.

"A rhyme meant as a joke? Lady really is right, your jokes are terrible."

He shrugged.

"Terrible…awesome…we've all got our own words for it I guess. What was that anyway? You didn't tell me before." He inquired as to the name of the attack that had let her be such a damn berserker before.

"Shukokoro(bleeding heart). It lets me use stronger versions of my attacks without losing any blood for a while. But when the state ends it drains it all at the same time."

He nodded before shrugging again.

"Well alrighty then. You ready to get going?"

Saya nodded and after looking around and seeing that there was only the one door down here, they proceeded towards the corridor that they'd fled through before.


	33. Those who stand in the way of victory

"It's hard to imagine that suck a frail-looking girl could have something that's so useful." Ritorno remarked, gazing at the weapon as he twisted it in his hands, letting the light bounce off it.

It looked like one of those collector items you would pay thousands of dollars for on eBay; the blade polished to a perfect sheen, a crystal rose as a hand guard… definitely priceless.

He tossed it away and into a wall, the blade imbedding itself in the rock as it sang out.

"Really, it doesn't matter if it's pretty or not. As long as it works I suppose I don't care." He mused, staring at the two empty spaces along the wall.

It wasn't anything special; the wall was long and grey. There weren't any paintings, windows, or anything else along it except for the single sword.

But to him, there were already two other swords there.

They just hadn't been filled in yet. That was all.

"Well, now. Don't you think it's a bit naughty to be so obsessed with just results?" He heard a voice ask him whimsically from over near the entrance to the room.

His grin showed a bit more amusement than usual.

"Isn't it a bit _rude _to enter without _knocking_?" He responded to the man who had just finished closing the only door to the room.

A chuckle responded to him as the sun-glassed man made his way towards Ritorno.

"You're right, but isn't it _also _rude to give away someone's prey?" Kuroihando questioned him, the elevated tone of his voice making it sound like he was happy no matter what happened.

Ritorno glanced over at the sword again before turning to face the man.

"I didn't see your name on her. Besides, you never fought her anyway, did you?" He quipped.

Kuroi shrugged.

"That may be. But since you got Vergil I don't see why I can't get the neck thing closest to her."

Ritorno's eyes widened for a second before they closed completely, his grin turning into a smirk.

"I _see_… so she was important to him, hm?" He asked, stepping past his subordinate and heading for the door.

"Uh oh. I didn't give you any ideas, did I?" Kuroi teased.

Ritorno's eyes opened again, an evil red in them.

"One or two."

"You've got to be kidding me." Dante remarked as they opened the door at the end of the corridor.

There was another member of the group in this room as well, and he was big too.

Bones were being tossed left and right; small bones, large bones, short bones, long bones.

It was like some kind of prehistoric graveyard.

From the monster's maw dripped blood from the animals it had eaten, and its appetite didn't seem to be relinquishing.

But all of the tension and intimidating essence of the scene vanished when the fact that the room was a kitchen and that the "monster" was just a large, bald man who had apparently decided to forego cooking the raw meat and had dragged animal carcasses out of the meat locker before devouring them.

His shirt and shorts were both way too small for his immense body and in fact Dante wondered if the man could even change out of them if he _wanted _to.

Saya hadn't really commented, as her initial bloodlust had passed by now, but Dante had stared agape at the man that pulled sides of beef up onto the table food was normally prepared on and tore through them like he had been starved.

Somehow he doubted that was the case.

Regardless, Dante felt a strange feeling. Disgust certainly. But also, maybe…jealousy?

But there was no time to think on who could eat the most food in the shortest amount of time, and Dante stepped forward towards the man.

"Let me take care of this guy." He offered as the devourer seemed to notice them and turned his head around; a drumstick being chewed in his mouth as he began to turn around himself.

"I'll go ahead into the next room and defeat whoever is in there. Just follow me when you're finished." Saya responded before making her way towards and through the door that they hadn't taken the last time.

The fat man's mouth widened and nudged up into a smile, dropping the drool-covered drumstick bone to the plastic-tiled floor.

"Well, now. You're certainly a big boy aren't you?" He asked, pulling Gemonia out from under his coat.

The kitchen, though large, was stuffed full of freezers and counters. Assuming this guy couldn't eat through _them _it wouldn't be a very long battle.

There was a big metal door that led to the meat-locker, as well as the door they'd entered from, the one Saya had left through, and the last one which led into the large front room.

But he doubted the fight would extend into other rooms.

"Novero-sette, Maiale." He spoke back before actually reaching into his large mouth and pulling out two gigantic metal claws from his throat.

Dante gave a quick "ha" before aiming his weapon at the man.

"Well isn't that special?"

This room wasn't what she had been expecting.

A wide circular shaft with a metal catwalk extending out to a small metal elevator that descended into the dark depths of this hell of demon-like people was along the lines of it.

Instead, a relatively small, single bedroom with a bed, complete with cheeto-stained Thundercat blankets, as well as various shelves and stands with ancient-looking action figures, many of which remained in their packaging, were the first things she noticed.

There were snack food bags lying on the ground, with various crumbs and broken pieces of the foods scattered across the floor.

The walls were covered with wallpaper; Thunderhawks on one, Transformers on another, Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles on still another, and the others, including the ceiling, were covered with wallpaper for series she didn't know of.

Opposite the door she had just entered through and to the left a few feet was another single door. But _directly _opposite her and the door was an unnecessarily large desktop computer with what appeared to be hand-painted models of the Star Trek Enterprise and Star Wars Death Star facing off against each other.

Sitting in front of the computer was a large computer chair which had such a high, solid back, that she couldn't see if anyone was sitting in it.

The fact that the lights were off also made it very hard to simply look underneath the seat to search for legs.

Still, even if there _was _someone in here, she didn't feel particularly threatened.

But then a menacing track from Star Wars, the theme for the Sith, began playing loudly from the computer's multiple surround-sound speakers.

As it did, two hands rose up from the chair and lifted a baseball hat with them, slowly sliding down before placing the cap on whoever the owner's head was, with "custom" sounds making it seem like it had metal machinery locking into placing.

Then, slowly, the chair began to twist around, noticeably because the person was pushing it with their feet, until she could clearly see the person.

"So…my nemesis….you have come." She heard an annoyingly nasally voice speak from the chair before the lights slowly lit up enough to reveal the man. Though the room still remained mostly dark.

"I have been awaiting your arrival great hero of good."

"Perfect." She thought.

"Dante fights against a glutton and now I have to face off with ultra-nerd two-thousand five."

Saya spent a few seconds noting how her comment had been scarily similar to the ones Dante usually made and reminded herself not to ever try and sound like him again.

"Your insult have no effect on me. I am above your level of ability. Surely you can see this."

She sighed.

These people were definitely in the lower ranks.

The man was in his mid-thirties but looked quite older. He wore a "Black Sabbath" t-shirt, shorts that looked like they hadn't been washed for a very long time, ridiculous Super Mario shoes and the baseball hat which she couldn't distinguish since it was facing away from hair, a little puff of hair sticking out from it.

He was out of shape and had a severely bad case of acne. Not to mention his glasses were very thick.

If you were to think of the stereotypical adult nerd, this is the visual manifestation that you would come up with.

"I don't suppose you'd be willing to let me pass through this room and just leave me alone."

"Though it pains me to state it so, I cannot allow you to traverse this domain and remain alive. For my master, I must annihilate you." He stated over-melodramatically.

She sighed again and drew out Ru-kui-in.

"I almost regret doing this."

"The victor of this battle will be I, Novero-sei, Pigrizia the mighty."

She sighed again.

"What a horrible person to have to fight."

* * *

I would have "nerded" it up more, but I don't know about the super-exclusive Megatron figure of 1872 with special silver-only paint, or whatever. ha. Also, I didn't want to pick on the other guy too much because I didn't want to berate anyone who has some weight.


	34. Beaten queen's stab at revenge

She couldn't wait any longer.

That man hadn't given her permission to get out of this freezing pool, but she didn't really care if he _did _hurt her. It was really…really….cold!

His back was to her, but he hadn't gone to take the soup bowl back to wherever he'd gotten it from.

Most people would have waited until he left to take it back, but she wasn't most people and most people hadn't been waiting in a fissure of freezing coldness for over an hour.

So, hesitantly, she reached out a hand, both of which she'd freed from their constraints quite a while ago, and pawed at the sand nearby like she was testing to see if it would do something unexpected.

A cage didn't spring up out of it, so she decided to put the other hand onto it as well.

He still hadn't turned around and she looked from side to side.

Even Diva was analytical enough to know that the trapdoor wasn't a good idea.

It may lead back up towards the exit, but the chance of her getting there, climbing all the way up the ladder, pushing open the trapdoor and getting upstairs without getting pulled back down was rather unlikely.

She may not know what was on the other side of the door, but it couldn't be any worse than this.

Her legs weren't freed yet though, and her ankle-bones were below the restraints, which meant getting them off would be very hard.

There wasn't anything around to cut the little bonds with either. And her head couldn't reach down that far so she couldn't bite it.

Despite the situation she was in, Diva felt herself pout.

These stupid ropes were more a problem than that rapey-guy!

"When Vergil comes back, he'll-"

"What's that?" She heard come from the guy who was now looking at her.

"Oh…darn." Diva actually succeeded in saying inside her head this time.

He stood up and started walking over to her.

She looked around, trying to find somewhere to go so he couldn't get to her, but all that lay around was sand.

Still, she looked back and forth and back and forth, hoping to see something that she hadn't seen before.

But nothing appeared, and when he grabbed her hair and threw her out of the cold little pit of water and onto the hot and now-uncomfortable sand, she really wished she'd just stayed put.

Unfortunately, that wasn't an option anymore.

"Looks like ya still need another gimping." He said, not seeming upset in the least as he walked over to her and kicked her in the stomach, sending the all-but human girl across the "island" and into the shallow water that lay around it.

Her ribs hurt from both the kick and the impact with the ground, despite there having been water there to help cushion the fall, and even though the water was shallow she still had to hold herself aloft to keep from drifting beneath it.

"Okay, I'm done with this now…" She stated, turning away from him and struggling to crawl through the water, trying to either swallow it or spit it out to keep on breathing.

However, Diva was crawling towards a wall, sky-blue though it may be. And behind her she could hear the man following.

A hand grabbed her ankle and she yelled about before shaking her head violently and trying harder and harder to pull herself across the water's surface and away from it.

But it didn't work, and she felt herself pulled back, flailing, through the water.

For a second or two, she wondered what he was going to do to her.

Then a hand grabbed the back of her head and pushed her face down into the water.

Diva was already out of breath as it was, and when her body couldn't get any more air, her vision began to close up within a manner of seconds.

The hand on the back of her head wasn't letting her up, and she seriously wondered if the man would just hold her under until she went unconscious.

_Then _she wondered if he would even bother to turn her over when she blacked out.

But suddenly the hand came away, and she felt a different hand grab one of her arms, and was soon torn from beneath the water and thrown into a big palm tree that stuck out from the island, her limp body falling back down onto wet sand, but far enough away from the water that she could breath now.

Though she probably should had simply lied there, trying to get some oxygen back into her lungs, Diva was compelled by curiosity, which she had even now, and forced her head back up to see who had saved and at the same time hurt her.

Back in the water, standing next to Mizu, was a man in a long black coat, grey pants, and with a long mane of black hair that was uncharacteristic for a man.

This wasn't what she cared about though. Even with her brain asphyxiated as it was, she knew exactly who her "savior" was.

"You're…the one who killed Vergil."

The man, Ritorno, shifty grin and all, began walking towards her.

"I see you've remembered. I guess your head's more durable than I'd thought." He mused, stepping closer and closer.

"So I guess this means my time with it's up, huh?"

Ritorno chuckled at "it" as he stepped onto the land as well.

"Yes. I'm afraid so." He said, looking down at Diva who, despite her condition, still managed a fairly angry look.

"But her sister's already back in the house. You can keep her _permanently_."

Her eyes flared as she lunged as best she could towards him, reaching out with her hands to try and grab something- anything- on this bastard who'd killed Vergil and was going to let that creep do the same thing to Saya as he'd done to her.

Unfortunately, her simply stepped away, and she lunged faced first into the very edge of the island, the water that must have had something to move it lapping at her head in small soft waves.

"You really don't like me, huh?" He teased her, causing Diva to spit out a mouthful of sand that had been pushed into her mouth upon colliding with the "ground".

"That goes without saying." She returned, a response completely opposite of the ones she usually gave.

"Heh. Then why don't you come over here and kill me?"

Her arms felt like they were going to break under the strain, but she managed to push herself up, able to pull the bonds off her ankles since they'd been worn down so much.

She didn't care if she was naked, if she was like a human _or _if she didn't have a weapon.

If this was indeed the man who'd killed Vergil, she'd tear him apart.


	35. Hungry jaw and lazy spear

"Heh, I guess you can fight a bit after all." Dante said, taking a breath.

Though maybe that was just because this Maiale guy hadn't stopped hacking at him with those big-ass claws since the start.

Now they were on opposite sides of the elongated metal table that held the last intact side of beef, and the guy, whose teeth were noticeably in need of an oil-drill as opposed to a dentist, was drooling big gobs of saliva onto the floor; the blobs making plopping sounds as they connected with the ground.

"You know you've got something right here." Dante told him, gesturing across his entire lower.

Maiale shook his head violently from side to side in excitement and Dante just barely managed to avoid a long lick of slime that randomly flew at him; the red-clad man ducking right before it sailed past him and smacked into the wall, taking a few seconds to slide down it.

Hoping to get the advantage, Dante leapt up from his crouch and kicked the side of beef at the big man as he jumped up onto the table himself.

He just barely caught the sight of the four-feet-long metal claws hacking through the beef as Dante made hi ascent over the table, and he stabbed down with Gemonia as the claws finished separating.

Whether his enemy had seen the attack coming or not, there wasn't enough time to dodge or block it with the weapons just coming from an attack, and the tip of the blade pushed further and further into the bulbous man's chest.

"Well now," He began. "looks like you weren't that tough after all.

As Dante spoke, though, the area he'd stabbed began to quiver and then strain.

He hadn't made the decision to inspect the sight more before his sword was jettisoned back from the big man's skin and the hilt slammed into his stomach.

Most guys would had been chucked off the table as they struggled to throw up the remains of the digestive organ. But Dante being… well, Dante, stamped a foot back into the metal table as his body repaired itself.

His eyes looked at where his attack had landed, and the only signs of it were stretch marks in the enormous layer of skin.

"Membrana(membrane). My belly and everything is too soft and gushy." He stated, slapping his body and making a sound like raw meat hitting a metal floor.

"Mealtime, Affamaboca(hungry jaw)." He said before swiping one of the claws up at Dante, blobs of saliva appearing on the tips as they did so, sending the liquid out at him.

Dante didn't know if it was normal saliva or something else, but there was no_ way _he was going to get hit by that, and hopped off the side of the table, letting the liquid sacs hit the wall behind him like the last drops of slobber had.

There was sizzling behind him and Dante guessed "something else", and acid at the same time.

But as he did, his normal grin widened.

"You picked the wrong kind of attack, man. I just spent all night fighting a tiny, quick chick with the same kind of attacks. And sorry to say, I just don't feel like looking at you as long as I did her."

Maiale didn't seem significantly insulted by his comment, as the big stupid smile he wore didn't move.

Dante glanced over at the door to the meat locker as the walrus-man made his move.

Or, to be more specific, wobble.

Still, the claws were long enough and the room was _small _enough, that Dante's better mobility didn't help him too much, and he had to block one attack with Gemonia as he dodged the second one with a backstep-

-and saw a big bulging, fleshy projectile in the shape of his enemy jumping over the table and heading straight for him.

At the last second, Dante dodged by making a desperate roll to the left, but lost his grip on Gemonia as he did so, and was soon in front of the freezer door with nothing to defend himself with as the whale of a guy got up and turned his fleshy head's sights on him.

He bit his lip before shrugging and taking his coat off.

Luckily, he was wearing a shirt this time.

"Toro, toro! Come on, toro!" He said excitedly, waving the red leather coat in front of him.

Surprisingly, Maiale did exactly what a bull would, except minus the big, visible exhale and angry attitude.

He pushed his feet against and off the ground twice before flinging himself across the entire room and at Dante, this time with the claws outstretched.

Dante smirked and let himself fall backwards as he whipped his coat down as well, and allowed the man to swing right past him and into the freezer.

Half a second passed before he flipped back up, spun around, grabbed Gemonia with his coat and pulled it over to him, and kicked the door all in one move.

"And that, kids," He said, pulling the coat on as he took hold of the weapon again and aimed it at the closed door, a wave of air spreading out from his feet as he did so.

"is what we call style."

The thick metal door soon began to melt, a sign that the acid Maiale used was eroding it. But that didn't matter.

His weapon glowed as energy began to gather in front of the barrel, and almost half a minute passed before the door finally fell apart, the bald, ugly-ass guy seeming to frown for the first time.

"Welcome to Red Devil, the premiere gourmet restaurant with a bit of class and a whole lot of style. Our specials today are filleted steak tips with onions, a creamy clam chowder soup and, oh yeah, my specialty, a full course of ass-kicking."

The shiny, mostly white eyes of his enemy glowed with the energy reflected from Dante's weapon as it fired off a Lamicanhao stronger than all the others had been right into his gut.

Maiale was blasted backwards as the whole freezer was vaporized as well as what was behind that.

Something could be heard flying through the air before a plate landed in front of the charred doorway, followed by a cooked sirloin steak that still sizzled.

Dante hit dramatically threw back his coat before sticking Gemonia under and spun around, walking towards the door to the next room.

"Bon appetit."

* * *

"No! Not that!" He yelled out as she chopped some random ancient transformer action figure in half.

Her weapon stopped in mid-air before impaling itself in a half-life-sized statue of Mr. Spock and then tore itself out, leaving the front of it with a large gash of grey inner-clay.

"Agh! Only a hundred of those were ever made!"

She looked around, searching for the most expensive, most vital-looking collectible there was.

"You've only got one chance; let me through now."

Pigrizia grabbed the hair that puffed out from underneath his baseball cap and looked from one thing to another, his face already covered in sweat.

Her eyes fell on what she wanted.

"But I can't _do _that! You can't fathom the greatness of what Ritorno will do to me if I just let you through!"

Saya closed her eyes.

"That's too bad."

They opened, and she flung Ru-Kui-n into an immaculate-looking picture hung in a perfectly polished frame on a wall.

His eyes seemed to follow the sword the whole way, and when it impaled itself halfway into the wall, through the frame and causing the glass to shatter, letting the picture fall out, a cryogenically-preserved, signed picture of William Shatner from the original run of Star Trek floating down, in two pieces, before landing softly on the ground.

The nerd blinked several times in a dramatic way, as if trying to make it not have happened, but the picture was still in half, and it was still ruined.

"Oh, you're- you're going to pay _dearly _for that!" He declared before diving into a pile of what looked like trash and threw various different "treasures" out from behind him as he dug through it.

She sighed, trying hard to pretend someone couldn't be this pitiful, as she walked over to her weapon and pulled it out of the wall and turned to face the nerd who had apparently found what he had been looking for.

"I don't care if I have to take it out of the package. You're going to rue the day you crossed me!" He yelled before spinning around, haphazardly, and hurling a long box at her.

Saya brought up her sword to defend against it, but the box only made it about half-way to her.

She blinked a few times before deciding whether she wanted to laugh or cry.

Then the front of the box tore open and a spear leapt out of it, thrusting out at her, forcing Saya to strike it away with her own weapon to keep it from stabbing into her chest.

When she did so, however, the spear actually turned around in mid-air and hit her in the shoulder with the blunt end.

It didn't do all the much damage, but there shouldn't have been any way that it could have done that.

As the spear floated away and back over to the obese man who was now back in his chair, she began to think of a way to beat it.

"Time to get up, Pigrolancia(lazy spear)." He said, even though the weapon had already been used.

"This is operazione(enterprise)! It allows me to make this weapon float through thin-air!" He continued, stating things she didn't care about.

Saya was actually starting to feel a bit like she was Diva, as this man was so boring it made her want to simply leave.

Unlike Diva, however, Saya had committed herself to this, so she would defeat him.

"All I have to do is break his weapon." She thought.

"After I do that he won't have any way to fight me. If I absolutely have to I guess I could just knock him out."

Saya was snapped out of her thinking when the spear thrust out at her again, forcing her to sidestep.

Again the blunt edge swung around, but this time she was ready and struck _that _part of the weapon away before running forward towards him.

She'd never seen someone amass so much sweat on their face in such a small amount of time.

Luckily for him, the spear had recovered and she could hear it spinning back like a saw towards her.

Reluctantly, Saya ducked under the weapon and backed off.

He laughed in a somewhat hysteric way as the spear once-again aimed at her.

But the only response she gave was a sigh.

This guy only knew how to do one kind of attack, and he never even changed up the order. It was almost saddening.

The spear leapt forth yet again, and she prepared to make a big jump to the side.

Unfortunately, her previous analysis seemed to be off by a bit, as it came it from a horizontal position, so she had to block against it as opposed to dodging.

As her and the unmanned spear struggled to gain ground, she managed to get one of her feet into a good position and stamped forward, pushing the strangely straining spear back towards its master, causing him to once again begin sweating, this time with good reason.

But at the last second, when Saya thought she had him, the spear spun around her and pushed her forward, right into him.

They both fell down but somehow he landed on top of her and she felt her lower torso strain from his weight; despite the fact it was resistant to damage, it wasn't much stronger than a normal human's in terms of ability to hold things up.

In the process of falling down she hit her head on the floor, and she closed her eyes as the momentary pain passed.

Pigrizia, or whatever his name is, seemed to be trying to get up. But in the process, to push himself up, his hand pushed down onto her chest and she scowled.

"I'll make one exception." She told herself as her free hand gripped hold of some random action figure and slammed it into the "human's" ear, making him yell out in pain and roll off her, allowing Saya to get up herself.

Her apology was a quiet one, as she could still feel a sweaty outline of a hand on her shirt, and she turned her gaze to the spear, which seemed unable to attack when he couldn't concentrate.

Saya brought her sword back, and then swung it, sending crystals through the air towards the weapon before they hit it, making the thing dissolve while it floated in the air.

She glanced down at the person who hadn't even fought himself, and who was still writhing on the ground from her single, plastic-armed attack, and sighed.

Luckily, as she did, a loud explosion sounded from the room behind her and only a few seconds later, the door opened and Dante entered.

The man, who seemed much cooler in comparison to the person that had been "defeated" in one hit, glanced down at the fallen adversary and walked over to her.

"Well, looks like you got it easy this time."

His coolness evaporated.

"Did you win?"

One of Dante's eyebrows raised.

"You serious?"

She stared at him for a second or two more before turning away.

"Okay. Let's go."

"Righ- oh, hey! He's got the limited edition Ninja Turtles Shredder guy! Man I haven't seen one of those since I was like…"

He seemed to notice she was in the room and then hastily walked past her.

"Gotcha. Let's get going. No time to spend admiring the scenery."


	36. Blooming season

"Heh, I guess Bianco hasn't released the seal yet." Ritorno stated as she fell down for the last time and couldn't get up.

To be honest, he thought she was unconscious as the annoying little bitch wouldn't stop grasping her way up until the girl was on her way to dream world.

Unfortunately, she wasn't as much fun to beat on as a human as she would have been if she still had full-access to her powers.

And she wasn't worth finding Bianco to release the seal.

"But it's not _all _bad, I guess. After all, I got to relieve stress and beat up something that belonged to him all in one go." Ritorno said to himself, trying to make something positive out of the situation.

Though maybe it was just an excuse for his coming down here.

It was a pretty strange feeling, however, that someone that mattered so little had mattered so _much _to the person he hated the most. Ritorno had almost wished she was better just so her existence could be justified.

"Oh well." He remarked out loud again, heading back towards the door he'd come from.

"Mizu, you can have her back, she's not worth hauling around just to mess her up again."

The dark-skinned man seemed overjoyed.

After all, if he was going to keep Saya as a pet too, it would be like having twin cats.

Well, on second thought, more like twin _dogs_.

"Just a novice's advice though. You may want to be a little bit harder on it. There was still some spirit left in its eyes."

* * *

He watched the boss leave and waited until the door was closed to start strolling over to her.

"How lucky of a guy am _I_? Two babes and I don't even have to do anything special to get them except kick their asses."

"_You're sure about this then?" Bianco asked Nero as they sat in their chairs, listening for anything else after the big "BOOM" sounded out underneath them._

"_Yes."_

"Ha-ha! I almost feel like praying to someone just for my luck! I mean… normally you have to go to some ancient, faraway country…" He said, gesturing through the air towards some random imaginary island.

"…But no! Free, easy to take care of, and their twins!"

"_You understand that if anyone finds out that I've done this, they'll know that you're alive."_

_Nero sat in his chair, and, though he couldn't explain it, was able to feel the girl's suffering._

"_I understand."_

"Get them some collars, maybe a leash…."

"_Well, if you're sure I don't see any reason not to. But why do you care so much? I mean, even if-"_

"_She's supposed to be a "queen", correct?" He asked, interrupting Bianco._

"…_so I've heard."_

"No." She said, struggling to get up.

It sounded more like a plea than a statement but then again he didn't really care either way.

"_If she is indeed going to die…"_

"Shut up. Pets don't get to talk unless they're told that they can." Mizu told her, raising up a foot above her spine.

"…_then she should die like a _queen_."_

He waited for her gaze to look up at him, her terrified little expression looked really cute.

"_Ah… Fine. No need to be so dramatic about it."_

His foot descended, but as it did he felt weird.

There was air underneath him, and for some reason he had to throw up.

His pelvis hurt a lot too.

A second later Mizu realized _why_, and as he barfed up his dinner into the normally-clear water he saw a look on the girl's face.

It was weird, but she was actually _smiling_.

He blinked, and her expression was the same as it had been.

And she was _standing_ _too_; not even a bruise remained on her body.

Mizu managed to get himself to stand up, staring yards and yards across at her, and was just now realizing how far he'd been hit away.

Her body was covered with something now. They looked like rose petals or something.

And in her hand…

"What the hell?"

Was the exact same sword Nero had taken from her when he beat her before.

The girl's eyes glowed blue.

"Is it my turn now?" She asked.


	37. From a faucet to a waterfall

Ever since they'd come back form that horrible place in France, Vergil had made her _promise_ not to kill people.

When it could be determined that she was the killer anyway.

And she'd obliged. Surprising everyone except him and herself.

The way she'd saw it, the others wanted her to kill so they would be right. She wouldn't, so _she _was right, and _they _were _wrong_.

That way, she won.

But, as angry as she knew it would make him, Diva wasn't going to be willing to keep that promise this one time.

It was kind of weird though. Even though Vergil had always stressed pride and honor, things she didn't understand and had no interest in, she knew that this single time he wouldn't care if she broke her promise.

That bastard who'd been hurting her this whole time seemed genuinely surprised at the sword in her hand, and that she was standing up to begin with, and she admitted it was nice to see that kind of expression on someone she really didn't like.

However, as she stood there something occurred to her.

She still wasn't wearing anything.

Normally, this wouldn't bother her. It had never really mattered to her before, and even now it probably shouldn't have.

But, as strange as it sounded, she actually felt offended and embarrassed for Vergil's sake.

So with a sigh, she used Rosarmure(Rose armor), something that covered her whole body in flower petals made by her sword.

It was form-fitting and only like a second skin, but she didn't care to begin with, and now Vergil couldn't yell at her for not wearing anything as she fought.

"There, isn't that better?" She asked no one or thing in particular.

Something told her that what she'd just used was meant to protect her more than give her real clothes but she told that thing to shut up and stepped towards the soon-to-be-dead jerk.

"Come on now. You've got one of these weapon-thingies too, right?" Diva asked him, aiming her sword at him and waving it back and forth.

"I won't be able to have any fun if I can just jab at you once and be done with it."

He regained himself and pulled out something from behind him, some handle-thing with some metal strips on the end.

Diva blinked dumbly a few times before bursting out in laughter.

"What the heck is _that_?! It looks like a toilet-paper tube with some streamers on the end that you painted! Where'd you _get _it _anyway_?!"

He didn't seem to find it funny, but she didn't particularly care.

A shrug was her next comment before she let the sword's tip fall into the sand and dragged it along the ground as she approached him.

"Oh well. Guess I'll just do this and then go somewhere else for deserts."

The man got a greasy smile on his face as he lifted up the toilet-streamer.

"I'll give you a meal alright. How about a hot dog?" He asked before running towards her and snapping the thing out at her.

Surprisingly enough, it sounded rather strong as it struck out like lightning at her.

Well, where she _used _to be anyway.

Diva had already gotten behind him and turned around, pushing a foot into his rear-end and causing him to fall face-first into the sand, making her giggle a bit before responding.

"Actually, I used to eat them but Vergil said that I ate them too slowly and for some reason he always left whenever I ate one, so I stopped. Anyway, you're not going to do too well if all you've got is that little thing. The weapon's stupid too."

Apparently getting what she meant, he burst out of the sand and whipped the thing at her again, this time however she hopped up above it and landed on his head, or more specifically his nose as he turned his face up to look at her, and stood there, forcing him to fall into the sand once again, though this time it was back first and allowed her to step off his face when he landed.

She was facing the door that led back to where Ritorno had gotten to, and started towards it, wondering if the next person would be a bit more fun.

But it seemed he wasn't done getting mopped about, as he got up and attacked her again.

Still, she didn't really care if he wanted to fight more or not, this person was way too flimsy. And as much as she wanted to take her frustration at what had been done to her out on the person responsible for it, if that person couldn't stay together long enough to soak up all her irritation then they weren't all that helpful.

So as the little metal strips could be heard snapping out at her she swiped Bleureine behind her, petals beginning to fall off of the blade as she did so.

A strange thing happened though.

She hadn't even bothered to look behind her while attacking since she'd figured it wouldn't matter, but when it sounded like rain was sliding through the air and she felt five sharp cold tendrils pierce her lower back, Diva decided that it was worth turning her head back towards where the attack had come from.

The Erebrise attack she'd began hadn't continued when she lost concentration on it and as the five ice spikes melted back into water, leaving several holes in her "clothes", Diva guessed that he would do for now after all.

Still, it made her give a light-hearted sigh as her blood dripped away, revealing immaculate skin beneath with no scars whatsoever.

"Huh. Guess you're not as squishy as I thought."

Then she shrugged and began walking towards him again.

As much as she didn't like strategizing while fighting, since it was too much work and made things boring, Vergil's personality had rubbed off a bit on her.

Those spike things that could come out wouldn't be able to do anything other than extend forward.

Which meant…

Diva hopped towards him, causing the guy to do the same attack he'd just performed, and she saw water forming at the ends of the metal strips as they approached her.

But all it took was for her to jump off the ground and just raise her body above the path that they made and then they might not have been there at all.

She slashed out at his neck, and the stupid man just barely managed to bring the "hilt" of the weapon up and block it, but the thing was sent from his grip as she flew past him and landed on the ground.

…if you don't hit them the first time, then it's useless.

The barely-amused girl suspected the dummy lying on his bum in the sand, wondering what had happened, was thinking the same thing.

"Actually, he's probably thinking 'ugwah, uh, um, ulg'." She thought to herself, causing a loud giggle to break out only a second later at how ridiculous those words were.

He scrambled for the handle of his weapon, but just because he wasn't any fun didn't mean that she was going to just let him keep fighting, and walked over to him as she rose her sword.

But you can tell a lot about someone when they have you at their mercy, and she, having experienced a great deal of her life in this state, was an expert at telling this.

So when he whipped around, throwing sand into her face, it wasn't much of a surprise.

Luckily for her, a single back-step by her put enough distance between them for her to regain her eyesight before the man reached her again, once again holding his weapon in hand.

Once again he snapped the weapon at her, but it was surprising as he did so several feet before it would hit her.

He revolved around and flailed the weapon at her, and she knew why.

But all it took was a quick downward swipe, and the flail of deadly ice-spikes was turned into some cold rocks in the ground and a stupid-looking guy running towards her.

It would be nice and flashy to do something fancy like Vergil always used to, but that just wasn't Diva's style.

So she simply stuck out her blade and waited for him to impale himself on the tip of it.

"Hey!" She complained as he altered his course to avoid her blade.

What he did next was even more upsetting; the man continued past her and struck the weapon across her back, slicing five long streaks across her back and pulling open the same number holes in the back of her "outfit".

The fact that the suit had protected her from getting cut into six parts probably should have occurred to her but it didn't.

Still, this wasn't all that painful compared to a lot of other things she'd felt, and only made her rub her back as the cuts healed.

"You know, if you keep up with these baby toys, it's not going to be a whole lot of fun for either of-"

Her comment was cut short when she noticed that the water around them was starting to move.

"Sorry, I've kinda always been a sore loser. Not ta mention I only have fun when I'm winning." The jerk said with a recovered grin as she turned around, facing the man who was gaining more and more water behind him.

As the water level rose, she began to think about how much of a cheater this turd was.

"Wash over them, Tsuirakufuuchou(crashing tide). He said, the water beginning to swirl around them, forming the beginning of a whirlpool.

"Well…" She started, her grin regaining some amusement in its tone.

"…I guess this won't be so boring _after_ all."


	38. End of the water opera

The water continued to swirl around the island as it began to increase in speed, turning into a literal whirlpool.

Of course, the sky didn't darken or cloud over or anything, since it was simply a painted ceiling. But she found it rather boring that this was the best he could do.

Sure, he could make all that water spin really, really fast, but it didn't matter how fast it spun if she would never ever get pushed into it.

Diva walked sideways, simply trying to get a different perspective on things as opposed to attempting to flank him.

In fact, they were already rather far apart from each other and she stood by that pool of freezing cold water while he was standing beneath a palm tree.

But the guy wasn't _moving_! What was up with that?

She sighed and shrugged at the same time before regaining a happy demeanor.

"Oh well. Guess I'll start-"

Her words ceased as something could be pulling at her ankles from behind.

However, he hadn't moved at all, and his weapon wasn't shining or anything, so what was the deal?

"Doesn't matter." She reminded herself while pulling away from whatever had been holding onto her ankles and approached him.

This guy was no fun at all.

Even when he attacked, it was never direct.

"Swipe streamers at me. Get your little invisible goblin to grab my feet… you're boring." She stated while dragging her sword along the sandy ground.

In an instant the thing dragged itself through the sand and blasted all of the particles in its path towards the man with the strength of a jet stream.

She couldn't see how he managed to block the attack, but wasn't interested.

It took only a tiny bit longer to flash behind him and swing Bleureine at the man, sending several petals from it in the process.

Though he blocked the sword swipe with the weapon, several of the petals made it through the guard and sliced at the sides of his arms.

As he grunted in pain she was already moving towards him again, and struck out at the weapon itself.

Though the man somehow managed to keep the thing from flying from his grasp, she'd only done so because he would have tried to hit her away with it otherwise.

The hilt of the sword slammed itself into his chin and sent him flying through the palm tree he'd been standing by.

Diva yawned as he struggle out from under the collapsed tree.

There really wasn't anything to do that would make this fun.

She didn't even wait for him to get out from under the tree before flashing over to him again and raising her sword.

However, this time he had his weapon free, and snapped it at her, causing the girl to hop back several yards to escape its ice-enhanced reach.

But while she avoided the attack, it had put her back over by the small pool of water again and this time the things that grasped at her ankles were much more aggressive and actually pulled her off her feet, and into the pool of water.

Surprisingly, though she struggled against it the water was actually holding her still, as if she were surrounded on all sides by some kind of immovable clear diamond.

Luckily for her, though she never thought about it, the small crater was not deep enough for her to be drowned in as a result, but she felt the water turning into tendrils and forcing its way through the holes in her "suit".

She scowled, if only for a moment.

"What a lecher." Diva remarked before wrenching the sword out of the water and swiping it through the air, causing several blade-like petals to cut down through the water along the length of her body enough so that she could jump out of the water, and land a safe distance away.

He'd already gotten out from under the tree, but she wasn't impressed by any of this.

"Scary, scary!" She spoke, feigning seriousness.

"You can do stuff with water! Isn't that neat? Too bad there's…um, none of it right here." Diva taunted in her own childish way, gesturing to the several yards of nothing but sand around her.

The man's arms apparently weren't cut very deep, since he didn't seem to have much of a problem lifting the weapon again.

"You sure 'bout that babe?" He asked her, using the annoying pet name at the end.

She gripped the sword and lunged at him, but as she chopped down through the air nearby him he only backpedaled and though she soon swiped several more of the petals at him, before they could reach the man he dove into the water, which had magically made itself calm wherever he'd gone under, and wherever he came up.

"Sorry, chica, but you're gonna have to come up with a better trick than pretty petals or the slut suit to get through this." He announced while raising his weapon, the movement immediately, almost simultaneously mirrored by the raging waters surrounding the entire island.

"Let's see just how much stronger ya are. Maybe if you survive it I'll let you be a touch-doll again."

Her smile disappeared.

She didn't like this pervert pretending he owned her.

"How about quadruple penetration huh? See if you can take _this_!" As he yelled out his annoying-innuendo-filled declaration Mizu swung down with his weapon, and the four tendrils of water that had formed out of the "ocean" surrounding the small island descended down towards her and struck all at once at her position.

But she was way too fast to get hit by them, and simply jumped up through and across the air, in-between some of them, towards Mizu.

She'd kill him. He'd lose. He'd die. This would stop.

That's the way she figured it, but he sunk back down into the water and she had to actually strain her whole body just to make it back onto the island and not get swallowed up by the whirlpool that surrounded it.

Unfortunately though, as she landed, Diva instantly noticed that the places where the tendrils had hit the island, long pools of water now stretched into the mass of sand from the ocean around it.

"Darn." She thought to herself.

"Hahaha! You see it huh? I'd thought you were a retard but I guess you're kinda bright after all."

Her gaze returned to him. She held no signs of any kind easy-going appearance.

"Sure ya can move around an' dodge me, but ya only have so many places ta go before you're running around in nothin' but water. Wonder if vamp's can actually do that. Guess we'll see soon enough."

After that, tendrils began forming everywhere and it was all she could do to avoid them, let alone attack the cowardly jerk.

She doubted he even knew where she was and was just hitting random places, but that just made it that much harder for her to dodge.

In less than two minutes, Diva was standing on a mound of sand barely sticking out of the whirlpool that had consumed the rest of the area.

The room was too big for her to jump from wall to wall in order to dodge, and there was no way to make it to either exit before she'd get pulled under.

"Love to keep you alive, but there's only enough room for one person here. Time for you ta go hear Davy Jones' singing."

With that, the whirlpool around her quickened its pace and soon waves began to rise out of the water.

But they soon became much more than waves. They became walls; swishing, drowning walls that rose up high enough to completely box her in.

"See ya in a hundred you little bitch." He said casually before the "walls" collapsed in on each other and crashed down like a giant tsunami block.

The sand was completely washed away and her bones broke under the pressure as the water pounded its way down onto and past her before finally the whole torrent had returned to the normal whirlpool and she was lying, broken, on a small, hovering set of blue petals.

"Ha. You still got enough juice ta-"

"You want to hear some singing hm?" She asked him as if he hadn't said a word, cutting him off.

"If that's what you want, _I'll _sing for you."

She opened her glistening blue eyes and the small set of petals jolted out into a massive screen, spreading out across the water and making a "floor" of glowing blue endlessness.

They stretched up the walls, covered the ceiling, and cut the man off from his "water supply", instead forcing him to sit in a simple chair.

As they did, the "floor" beneath her brushed up, like leaves blowing in the wind, and helped her up to her feet.

"I don't like you. But I hope even _you _like this song, I get kind of personal about it." She spoke before taking in a deep breath.

A second later, she began singing.

_Two _seconds later, she literally lost herself in the song.

_Three _seconds later, she heard a lot of screaming as the world of blue crashed down on them.


	39. All the paths, the only destination

There was a wet feeling all around her.

That was probably the first thing that occurred to the girl as she felt like she was floating.

Wait, she _was _wasn't she?

Diva's eyes started to open, but instantly snapped back closed when they saw how bright the "sky" was.

The petal-floor was completely gone now, and all that was left to lie on, or more specifically, _in _was the now-soft and calm water that filled the room.

Her right hand tightened. It was still there.

She smiled while forcing herself to stand up.

Though the island was completely gone now, the sand that had made it up now lie evenly across the whole room, making it entirely traversable by simply walking.

The man couldn't be seen anywhere, but she spotted his weapon floating around in the water. Apparently at least the handle floated.

She let out a displeased sound and frowned.

"This isn't fair. I keep thinking about things when I don't even care. Darn you Vergil, I'm going to be very upset with you when you come back." She thought out loud as she walked towards the door that led further into the building or dungeon or whatever it was.

* * *

"Well, now. Isn't _that _strange?" Ritorno asked the empty air when he saw that in his room, the sword was now missing, a hole where it used to be that went through the earth far enough that he couldn't see the light coming from the other side.

There couldn't have been another person in this room while he was gone. No one ever tried it, and there wasn't much to it anyway; just a big room, black marble floors, walls and ceilings, white marble steps that led up to a throne made of the same material, and a single light bulb hanging from electrical wire that vaguely illuminated the three-story tall room.

Dramatic, perhaps, but certainly nothing you could steal stuff from.

The back of his head itched.

"Uh oh, my spidey sense is tingling." He joked to himself while turning around to face the door even as a badly-cut dark-skinned man bashed his way through the door and fell down onto the floor, bleeding all over it.

"Ritorno!" The bloodied man got out through his apparently full lungs.

"The…the bitch…got…" He ran out of air halfway through the sentence and fell back to the ground.

His eyes fell upon the man before he began walking over to him.

"She…got the s- sword…."

He rubbed his chin while listening.

"She got it back huh?"

"Y- yeah."

And from the looks of his injuries she was back at full health and everything.

"Where is the sword?" He asked calmly.

The delirious man shook his head.

"I don't. I don't…"

"You don't have her sword?"

"N- no."

He stubbed rubbing his chin and started licking the canines that seemed sharper than usual.

"So let me get this straight. You lost to her in battle, didn't bring her or her sword with you, lost your _own _weapon, and you came running back to me for help?"

The fool didn't respond.

"Mizu, I'm afraid…your usefulness had run its course."

Obviously the man didn't seem to be taking the news all that well.

"Ya sonuva-"

He grabbed the man's dreadlocks and pulled him up by his hair.

"You enjoy water. Correct?" He questioned the man who could no longer speak, probably because blood was filling his lungs.

"Well then, I'll be a bit courteous and let you die somewhere a bit more dramatic. Say… the Bermuda triangle."

Before the man had a chance to so much as say no a "shadow-hole" opened up beneath him and Ritorno let his hair go, allowing the man to fall through the void, and into the sea a few thousand miles away.

"Or maybe he fell into a neighbor's swimming pool. I suppose it doesn't really matter." He thought to himself while rubbing his temples.

"Now then, what to do… ah! Invidia should suffice. If nothing else it'll be interesting to watch."

* * *

"So, uh, which way do we go?" Dante asked as they entered a decently-sized square-shaped room with three paths, or corridors.

All three of them looked the exact same, even with his enhanced vision, and there didn't seem to be any sign that one single path was the right one to go down.

Saya scanned them herself before heading for the left one.

"Hey, where're you going?" He asked after her as she continued walking away.

"I'm going to find my sister. If I hit a dead end then I'll just come back. We can't afford to just stand around wondering which path to take."

He tapped one of his feet against the ground as the stubborn girl walked down the path.

"So eager, huh?" Dante asked, even though she couldn't have heard him anymore.

Then he shrugged.

"Ah hell. Who am I kidding? I'm not the type to just stand around either." The careless man spoke to the air before heading down the right corridor.

* * *

"So, what are you planning on doing now?" Bianco asked him as they sat in the gambling room once again.

Nero had taken a few minutes to rest, still not having recovered from his brush with death.

"I'm not sure. Now that the girl's seal has been released, she should be able to take care of herself. How about the other two?"

Bianco stared at the reflection in his glass, seeming to see something that was not actually in the glass itself, but rather the light.

"It would seem they're trying to find their paths through life." He spoke.

"So they're in the corridor with the three different paths." Nero returned, decrypting the casual riddle Bianco had given him.

"Hm." Was all he responded with.

As much as he'd like to rest for the entire day, they didn't have that much time. Not to mention… he didn't know if he'd wake up after he went to sleep.

"Which ones did they choose?"

Bianco shifted the glass in his hand, changing the way the light reflected off of it.

"The girl chose the left one, the male chose the right one. The other girl is heading for Ritorno as well."

Nero sighed while pushing himself up.

"It would seem then that they're all going to be in quite a bit of danger huh?"

"Certainly seems that way."

He began walking towards the door that would lead to the arena; the direction he wanted to go in.

"I'm going to go assist them." Nero spoke over his shoulder, opening the door.

"Which one are you going to help out? If you don't mind my asking."

Nero waited for a moment before speaking again.

"My 'queen'."


	40. The opponents

"This person is certainly accomplished." Saya said to herself while walking down the hall adorned with stuffed animals from hunting expeditions.

The first hall she'd headed down eventually led to a brown door that opened up into this hallway, but the feeling was completely different.

In place of the hard, echoing floors was wood overlaid with plush red carpet that gave a soft thump as she walked on it as well as the displays of various tigers, lions, bears and other dangerous animals which had plaques displaying when they were killed, and with what weapon.

Surprisingly, the most recent ones were entirely with swords. Though there must have been some kind of typo since she'd seen a few that said "five swords" or even more.

Either that, or whoever had caught them had multiple arms, which would be difficult to deal with in close-range, but perhaps she could simply escape from them and just-

Saya's strategizing ceased when she all-but collided with the door that stood in front of her, showing where the hall ended.

She waited a moment to listen for anything on the other side of the room, but all she heard was a loud clock. Perhaps a grandfather clock.

Then her hand twisted the doorknob and pushed the door inward, already getting ready to pull the red rose from her pocket if necessary.

As the door opened, however, she noticed that the room on the other side stayed very much in the spirit of the hallway she'd just come from, and seemed to be adorned with various objects of achievement as well as simply having a "fancy and expensive" air about it.

The ceiling was crème-colored but had wooden borders and a carpet that covered the middle area of the square room.

Though it had no unique shape on its own, the oak desk as well as multiple business-style couches and other more subtle decorations helped "split up" the room.

A large fireplace crackled and burned brightly to the right, and there was another door on the opposite wall, to the far right.

Strangely, the room looked more like a millionaire's study or office than the abode of a warrior.

"Then again, I shouldn't judge a person's abilities based on what their fashion tastes are." She reminded herself.

But no one sat in the chair behind the desk, nor was anyone lounging on a couch or maintaining the fireplace.

The room was empty.

She kept up her guard, however, while entering the room, in case there were any tricks waiting for her.

However, even after scanning the whole room the second after she'd entered it, she still didn't see a single per-

Metal could be heard scraping against something behind her and she only had enough time to whip around before a sword was placed to her throat.

"Hiding behind the door? How could I have fallen for that?" She asked herself internally while slowly trying to bring her hand up to the red rose.

"I don't think so." The man holding the sword told her, pressing the blade more forcefully against her throat.

In reality, if he chose to cut her head off right now, there was nothing she could do. Even if somehow Saya managed to avoid getting be-headed she would still be too weak to fend off his attack.

"He relied on the fact that I would expect a trap to sneak up on me from behind using a ridiculously easy way to hide. This man certainly knows a lot about fighting. I never even would have thought of trying this against anyone." She continued to think over in her head.

But there wasn't any time to think about that. She had to figure out a way to escape from his sword-

Once again he surprised her, but this time by pushing her away with his sword before bringing it back in front of him, no longer aimed at her throat.

"I would never stoop so low as to kill someone by sneaking up on them." He announced, on guard himself now as she drew out her rose and turned it into its sword form.

Now that she had time to notice anything but his blade aimed at her, Saya realized that he was actually quite old, though he seemed to have aged very well.

Though the man appeared to be in his seventies, his body itself did not look frail at all and he seemed to be very much aware of everything that was going on around him.

His hair was parted, though a few small bangs came down over his forehead. He had a moustache as well, which made him look even older than he probably was. The man wore a simple white long-sleeve shirt and a not-so simple dark brown waistcoat over it in addition to his normal-looking pants and non-fancy but still polished shoes.

A pocket-watch was fastened to a small loop of fabric of the waistcoat and disappeared into a pocket on it. Accenting his elderly appearance all the more.

Though everything else about him spoke that he was accomplished and wizened, his eyes made him look like a young man with their inherent strength, despite the fact that they were a common brown.

She hadn't expected to find anyone like him in a group of people like this, but if he was the enemy, she knew what she had to do.

"I take it that you won't simply let me pass through this room." Saya stated, though it was in fact a question.

The eyes staring at her didn't waver, nor did the sword. His hand was completely still.

Perhaps the most ornate thing about the man at all was his sword, which seemed to be decorated to the extent that would usually label a weapon more of a collector's item than something worthy of actual combat.

It's guard looked like two bars stuck together and then furnished with lion heads on either end, all in gold, while the handle seemed to be some sort of dark leather wrapped tightly around the sword, and the bottom looked like a quad-pronged trident, with four spikes making up a sort of "crown" on the bottom, and it looked like they were both strong and sharp enough that if it hit you on the skull it would be_ bone_ which broke, not the spikes.

The blade itself looked immaculate. Not a single smudge or any other mark remained on it and the thing reflected light off of it like a mirror.

"You would be correct in assuming so. I cannot let you leave this room now, even to retreat."

Her hands tightened on the sword.

"I see. You're very different from the last person I fought." She remarked, trying not to think about the person who'd claimed to be a warrior.

The man gave a quick chuckle.

"I know what you mean. If the circumstances were different I would thank you for defeating that filth that claimed to be a man. However, because of our situation I believe we should get started."

He violently whipped his sword to point straight up at the ceiling right in front of his face.

"I am Novero-Quattro, Fierezza. I'm pleased to meet you." He spoke formally, though fiercely.

She swallowed.

"I'm Saya Otonashi."

He nodded.

"Now that we've introduced ourselves…"

Then his sword aimed towards her and he leapt forward.

"En garde!"

* * *

"You've gotta be _kidding _me!" Dante yelled as he continued to walk through this maze of corridors.

"Saya's probably fighting someone right _now _and I'm stuck walking through a bunch of _halls_?!" That's bull!"

Nothing had changed. Only the shape of the corridors were altered but the materials, look or anything else about them hadn't changed a bit. And he hadn't come by _one _door this whole time.

The only real advantage there was in this had to be that it was essentially just one really long, twisting hall. There weren't really any other halls to go down and get messed up in.

But that didn't keep him from getting pissed off. A winding dungeon with monsters to fight would've been one thing, but there was just nothing to do!

His eyes flared and Dante stamped down into the floor before thrusting his hand through a wall.

"…I'm pissed."

That was enough of this looking around crap. He was going to play things _his _way from now on.

Dante pulled Gemonia from under his coat and aimed in a random direction before charging energy up near its barrel.

"If they want me to waste time walking down a hall I'm going to be walking down _my _hall." He stated before firing off a Lamicanhao at the wall, enveloping the whole corridor in light.

It also temporarily blinded him, and Dante was gripping his eyes for a few seconds even after he heard the blast dissolve all of the wall in front of him for yards.

"Okay, that kinda stung." He admitted while bringing his light-shielding hand away.

His attack had formed more of a tunnel than another hallway; as the path was rounded and had a more earthy tone, as well as some small pieces of rubble that had fallen from the ceiling. But it'd do.

Something was up though. Dante didn't know what was going on, but he just had a weird feeling.

When you hunt demons for a living, you know how to fight them and everything, but you also develop a kind of sense of when something dangerous is nearby, kind of like a soldier on a battlefield.

A few seconds later, when a large halberd smashed down through a wall, crushing through it like it wasn't even there, he knew what was "up".

"Well now, looks like I'm gonna be running a bit." He said to himself as the person holding the halberd walked through the hole in the wall.

Dante couldn't see them because of the clearing dust but he could tell they were about to charge in his direction and put Gemonia back underneath his coat.

"On your mark, get set… go!"

* * *

"Why is every place around here so booooring?" She asked, walking down a hallway.

"Really, it's no fun at all." Diva commented.

However, the corridor seemed to widen up ahead so she flashed over towards the large space, eager to get this little journey over with.

"Just a teeny bit further." She remarked as the room up ahead started to reveal itself more,

But as it did, she missed a step, and though her final "flash" still brought her into the room, Diva just barely managed to keep herself from colliding with the ground by thrusting her hands out.

"Gee, that was close." She remarked while pushing herself back up and brushing off her "suit"-

"Oh, hello." Diva greeted the cloaked person as she noticed there was someone standing right in front of the only other hall that touched the large room.

Afterwards though, she noticed that this room was as boring as the hall had been, it was just a big square with a hallway on the other side.

"Sorry, I don't have time to play right now, I'll have to kill you and get going." She apologized casually.

Actually, the person in the cloak seemed to be no taller than her, and looked…

The person pushed the beaten, cut up cloak off of them and stared at her.

On them was nothing more than cheap-looking jeans and a somewhat over-sized t-shirt. The person wore no shoes or even socks.

Then again, it made her feel less bad about only wearing a form-fitting set of glowing blue petals.

The person's long black hair was unkempt and their skin was quite pale, eye color seemed to be a sort of amber tone, though it was hard to tell due to the poor lighting of the hallway-room.

She couldn't really tell if the person was a male or a female, as their appearance was rather androgynous, but it didn't matter to her anyway.

Diva turned the blue rose she held into its rapier form and lunged at the person while pulling it back.

"Cut their head off and make sure not to slip on the pool of blood." She reminded herself internally.

As her form came upon the person, though, something swept towards her and she dodged in mid-air, still getting her cheek scathed.

Diva's feet hit the wall and she pushed off of it, landing on the floor back where she'd started.

"Well, now. Wasn't _that _tricky-"

She felt her words stolen from her as the androgynous person lowered their weapon; a rapier with a crystal blue rose as a hand guard.

Her hand tightened on her own sword and felt that it was still there.

"I'm novero uno, Invidia. I'm going to kill you and take your sword for myself." Invidia's sexless voice spoke to her.

She blinked, surprised, before her expression softened and she felt herself grin in satisfaction.

"Hm, this seems like it'll be a boat-load of fun."

* * *

Sorry it's still taking a while for chapters to get updated.


	41. Issues

His attack came quicker than even her enhanced senses could keep track of and the only thing that kept her from getting a blade impaled through her neck was the instinctual reflex of ducking.

He seemed impressed, if only a little, but she wasn't finished yet. Saya swung her blade towards his ankles, aiming to cut his legs from his feet.

However, he hopped backwards just out of range of the swipe and readied his sword once again.

Still, she knew his weakness. Fencing was not originally intended to combat other sword-styles and swords themselves, and most of their techniques were based on a set of rules, as with many other things.

"His lower body. It's unlikely that I'll be able to break his sword, considering it's made of something other than normal metal, but I still have an advantage if we clash." She thought while rising up.

She thought for a second, and then decided on a plan, already choosing which leg she would push off of and trying to ready it as discreetly as possible.

Either he didn't notice her preparation or didn't care, as Fierezza once again thrust forth from his position and stabbed out at her, this time towards her chest.

Saya pushed, and the leg rolled her both out of the way and behind him in the same movement, allowing her to swipe at the back of his legs as she revolved around, still in a crouch.

But he didn't get caught by the attack. Which was fine, since she'd only used it as a fail-safe to keep him going past her as opposed to simply turning around.

In response to his continued movement, Saya once again pushed away from the floor, this time with both feet, and propelled herself, still crouching, towards the back of his legs, aiming for the back of his knees, as they were vulnerable areas and much more difficult to protect than something near an agile foot.

Unfortunately, once again he didn't fall for her attack at his weak point and took a large step, which seemed more like an elegant hop while dancing, to the side her attack was coming from and spun about, dodging her attack and twisting before slicing up through her back as they both completed their motion; Fierezza bowing and Saya all-but falling to the floor as she strained to put up with the wound as it began to heal.

"Okay, different strategy." She thought before touching her sword to the blood on her back and whipping around, sending a crescent of crimson blood at the man who wouldn't be able to block it with his small weapon.

And he didn't, but what surprised her the most was that he swung his sword at her projectile attack before rearing back and _skewering _the acid-like air-slice and spinning around before throwing it back at her, forcing Saya to perform another, haphazard one to keep it from dissolving her to the bone.

Afterwards she was exhausted from the effort.

"How did you…do that?" She asked in-between a few heavy breaths.

He swept his sword downwards before answering.

"Your attack, while impressive, is subject to the same conditions as normal blood. As a result, a quick enough blast of air, and a fitting weapon, can alter it enough to allow it to be used against you."

Saya didn't fully understand, but guessed that the air that came from his sword when he'd swiped it beforehand had caused the blood to cool somehow, allowing him to manipulate it.

Either way, it didn't matter. That attack obviously didn't work.

She had to admit, he was a very strong opponent; Fierezza hadn't so much as used a special kind of attack, that wasn't just manipulation of his sword anyway, to harm her.

"It looks like I'll have to work hard to defeat you." She spoke to him while pushing herself up.

He began to bring his sword up slowly.

"To accomplish the things you want the most, that is most often the case."

As her body's blood count returned to normal, Saya once again started coming up with a plan of attack.

But it didn't seem that he was all that interested in allowing her the time to think, as Fierezza suddenly burst forth and stabbed out towards her, causing Saya's body to instinctively jerk away.

"Wait. A feint." She thought, just barely managing to alter her "course" in time to avoid getting a shoulder skewered on his blade.

There wasn't enough time to balance to counter attack and by the time she _did _get into the right position he had already retreated back to his original spot.

"His normal weaknesses are made up for by his unusual speed and unique ways of dodging." She thought, trying to come up with a way around it.

After a few precious moments, Saya realized there was nothing appearing in her mind, and knew that she had to take the initiative or she would quickly be pushed back into a corner.

A Chiwangetsu was fired off from her sword as she shifted over to her right, and then a Chikesshou; the two attacks far enough apart that it would be difficult to dodge both at the same time.

As the blood crystals and crescent smacked into each other and sizzled some sort of chemically-made steam or smoke up into the air, she leapt through it, ignoring the slight stinging that pained her face and hands, swiping out at where Fierezza should be.

Unfortunately, there was plenty of room in the large study to retreat to, and she hadn't taken into account that he might back up a significant distance. So when she slashed through thin air, landing on her feet in a position meant more for stability than flexibility, she saw that he was several feet away, his sword already aimed at her-

The fumes from the smoke forced her to blink, and then suddenly a blade had speared itself through her heart, enough force behind it to slam the hilt of the sword into her chest and force her away as his thrust finished.

As she cried out in pain of the attack, Saya let go of Ru-Kui-n with her left hand and brought it over to her right side to attack single-handedly.

Red light seemed to flicker in the crystal flower at the base of the blade of her sword as it swiped through the air towards his neck.

His eyes barely glanced at the attack before his sword withdrew and blocked it even as his feet pushed him up and through the air, landing on the floor when he was a safe distance away.

"Damn. So close." She thought out loud while fighting the urge to grip her healing wound, instead placing both hands on the sword again.

"If only there were a way to make him unable to avoid my attacks I could-"

He blocked with his sword.

He'd actually _blocked_.

Saya gave an internal sigh, preparing herself for the strategy.

She knew how to get through his defenses now.

* * *

He dodged yet another crushing blow from the halberd by rolling away from its arc as it swung through the walls on either side as if they were as light as air.

Whoever was holding this thing sure wasn't some little twerp with no other alternative. He hadn't even gotten the chance to fight back since the enemy first showed up.

But running for half the fight wasn't his style so if an opportunity didn't present itself to escape from this guy, he was going to just turn around shoot him.

Rubble from a nearby hit flew into his shoulder, bruising it, if only for a moment.

"Assuming I can avoid getting smashed open that is." He reflected, spying a corner up ahead and smirking as he got an idea.

"Come on! Is that the fastest you can run?!" He yelled in a taunt while pumping his arms and quickening his pace, heading for the turn faster than the guy could keep up carrying that heavy-ass weapon.

Soon the swinging halberd was bashing pieces out of the walls behind him and he couldn't even feel the air swinging at the back of his coat before long.

Only a few more yards, and he'd be there.

Dante stayed to the left of the hall and, when he was close enough, dove towards the corner, rolling past it and out of his enemy's sight before spinning up and facing back the way he'd come.

He could hear the halberd thoroughly messing up the walls around the turn, but he still had a few seconds to twist his foot on the ground.

Then he burst forth from the floor, catapulting himself towards the outside wall of the corner before pushing off of it and spin-kicking his way into the halberd, which was knocked away since he'd kicked it in the direction it had already been headed.

Dante hit his nose with a thumb before stepping back, avoiding a chunk of the ceiling as it crashed down into the stone floor.

"Whoa. Almost got hit." He joked while noticing that the halberd swinging enemy that had been chasing him was only about five-foot-three. And he didn't seem to be very well muscled. What's-more, he looked like a thirteen-year-old.

How the hell he'd been swinging that big-ass weapon around all this time while chasing after him was something Dante couldn't understand. Then again, he didn't really _care either_.

"Sorry kid, guess you didn't have what it took to make it in the big time." He spoke, momentarily pushing himself up on his toes and looking down on him.

"You…" He spoke, facing the other way, trembling.

"Huh?"

"You… you- shut up!" The halberd whipped up from the floor and spun in a full 360 arc, through wall and air, past his now-ducking form and landing behind him, the teenage-kid now facing him.

"I don't care _what _you think! You hear me?! Just shut up!"

Dante sighed, bringing a hand up to his forehead while shaking his head.

"These guys and their themes. Lust, gluttony, sloth, greed… let me guess, you're Wrath, right?"

"Furia dumb-ass! Get it straight!"

He laughed, despite the kid's outburst.

"Alrighty then, _furia_ let me point out how this is gonna go. Either ya go back to yer play room and swing that thing around in there, or keep coming after me and I'm going to have to kick your ass."

Furia's already irritated face scowled.

"Plan C! _I _kick _you're _ass!" He yelled before swinging the halberd up above his head, digging through the ceiling, and then down towards Dante.

"Stupid kid." He spoke before hopping back from the attack which barely hit anything, and then pulled Gemonia out of his coat, firing a Lamisalva(blade volley) at him, simultaneously firing dozens of little energy bolts into and through the kid's undefended and immovable form.

Furia gasped in surprise before falling backwards, still holding onto the yards-long shaft of the axe, before falling to the floor.

Dante shook his head before spinning the large gun-sword around on his finger, sticking the weapon back into its holster.

"Sorry, but I don't have time to mess around with you. I've gotta go save that silly girl before she gets herself killed." He sort-of apologized while turning around and walking the way he'd been running not that long ago.

"Huh, maybe I shouldn't killed him. Now this is going to be a boring as it used to be."

His steps sounded off, echoing throughout the long halls ahead, reminding him already how long this was going to take.

The white-noise like sounds of his boots walking on the concrete were soon accompanied by the scraping of metal against stone, however, and he ceased his forward movement before turning around to face the not-so-dead teenager.

"It's going to take a _hell _of a lot more than that to kill _me_." The boy informed him while standing up, his previously green-shirted chest now looking like some kind of twisted Christmas joke, with blood staining the shirt and revealing red-dyed-but-healed flesh.

He felt himself grin, getting his legs ready again.

"Guess _so_."

* * *

"So you copy stuff huh? That's…kind of cheating." She remarked while bringing her sword up in front of her.

Invidia seemed irritated at her words.

"You're one to talk! How about how you have those people who come to save you? Isn't letting them do all the work for you cheating _too_?!"

Her eyes didn't really widen, more like shifted, but she gave a reaction to the information nonetheless.

Her sister and Dante had come back to rescue her.

She supposed this was the part where tears would come streaming down her face, tears of joy. But that wasn't really what she was thinking.

"Saya you silly dummy. I told you to _run away_. Not go and then come back." She spoke as if her sister were actually in the room, sounding somewhat disappointed.

Then she shrugged and brought her guard up again.

"Oh well, guess I'll just have to kill Ritorno before they get here. I can't have them stealing my fun now, can I?" She asked the air before something was hurled at her, forcing the air-headed girl to move to the side to avoid the lance; the Erejavelot.

"Pay attention to me!" Invidia yelled at her like a child, causing her to giggle.

"What's so funny?!" The child or teenager, whatever he or she was spat.

Her giggling stopped, but she still held an amused smile.

"Oh… nothing. You're just, selfish I suppose." She spoke like the situation wasn't serious.

Invidia's head turned downwards, staring at the floor.

"Shut up." The words came quietly.

"As if you could understand what it's like…"

Her smile replaced by a curious frown.

"What's that? I can't hear you. I thought you wanted me to listen to you. You'll have to speak up if you want anyone to listen." She teased.

A moment later Invidia's sword hand tightened and swept and Erebrise at her, forcing the girl to push herself far away to avoid getting cut up.

However, Invidia didn't seem deterred at all, and leapt at her, swinging down its own sword as she brought her own up to defend herself.

The swords clanged as the sparks that flew from the conflicting metal momentarily put a dramatic lighting on the young troubled person's face.

"Being ignored is the worst possible thing that can happen to someone!" The genderless child screamed at her, surprising Diva by how strong it was.

"Watching the other people who are either looked up to or goaded upon while you're simply left in the shade! It's unbearable!"

She gasped, and her body lost control for a moment, allowing Invidia's sword to come down and slice through her chest.

Diva took in a shaky breath before swiping her sword at Invidia, who backed off, yet still held a fierce expression.

"To be treated as if you don't even deserve to live… like you're something that never should have been born to begin with. You could never understand."

Her eyes shook, staring at the ceiling, and remembering something from the past; a mix of déjà vu and a flashback both at once.

The cut in her flesh healed, though the damaged to the suit did not, and a very thin line of her skin was visible, a descending line from right to left.

"That's not true." She spoke, not even an ounce of humor in her voice.

Invidia seemed confused by her statement.

"I don't know how old you are, but if your body ages normally, then I put up with that very same loneliness and more… for much longer than you've even been alive."

Her enemy seemed apprehensive of her now, but it didn't bother her.

"And I… I still haven't gotten over it." She admitted, more to herself than to her enemy.

"Things were done to me that you can't imagine. I would have died if I was like you. Many times a year. Even if _no_ one had hurt me, it would still be too uncomfortable a temperature to 'enjoy' the cramped little cell that had been my home for decades on end."

Her hands were loosening, and though she tried to maintain her grip on it, they quickly released their hold on the air, and on her sword.

"It didn't matter if I was hurting or not. I was always so lonely. And I felt strange, waiting desperately for my torturer to return because even though it hurt so much, at least then I would have some company."

Her knees felt wobbly. She'd never felt like this her whole life.

"And now that Vergil's gone I… now that I think about it, I don't even _care_ if I live or die anymore. I just want the pain to go away."

A cracking sound filled the room as her knees hit the stone floor, but she was oblivious to it, and the pain in her legs.

She was oblivious to Invidia's moving form, and to her weapon's blade scraping against the stone as it was lifted up into the air.

"I'll release you from it." Something said to her.

Diva closed her eyes, and thanked the voice in her thoughts.


	42. Cincoswords and the giant's axe

"I'll give you this one chance to back down." She warned the man as she thought out how to set this up.

He seemed amused at her offer for him to retreat, considering she was the only person who'd been hurt so far in this battle.

But then again, she could be stabbed many times without dying. While the people in their group, though inhumanly strong and quick, seemed to die just as well as anyone else when sufficient damage was done to them.

"Oh? Well I appreciate the advice, young lady, but I have absolutely no intention of retreating. Even if I _had _been losing."

She sighed.

"You types of people don't know how dangerous your pride really is." She remarked, despite the fact Saya normally wasn't the kind of person to insult a person's personality.

His calm frown became more pronounced, displaying his distaste for her comment.

"We'll see whether Pride is a hindrance or not after this battle is over." He responded, once again assuming an offensive stance.

Hopefully, that comment would be enough to make him attempt another thrust as opposed to some kind of slash. As long as he did _that_, she could defeat him.

She pulled her sword over her head, lifting it up above as she prepared to run forward.

It was an offensive stance, meant to set up a powerful killing blow. But it's defense anywhere but around the head was extremely weak, so it was usually a good idea to simply avoid using it until you knew you could win.

And she ran towards him, aiming to cut him in half with one mighty attack.

Fierezza actually showed an amount of surprise at her recklessness, but didn't hesitate for even a second as a result of it, and pushed himself forward across the ground like an arrow bolt fired from a ballista.

Her sword began to swing down, but his thrust was easily quick enough to pierce through her stomach and go all the way through her.

"Now!" she yelled out in her head, sending her left hand down to his sword hand to grab it while aiming her sword diagonally to get the most out of the single-handed sword swing.

His eyes were glazed over in realization, but it was too late now. She'd given him his chance to run, and Saya couldn't afford to allow an enemy to escape now.

The sword glided down through the air, almost as if it were traveling on its own, towards his chest.

However, when another blade blocked the attack before it could build up enough momentum, and then struck her weapon away, Saya's plan didn't seem as foolproof as it had before.

"But how did he block?! I'm holding his sword in my _ribcage _and I _know _he didn't have any other ones!" The thoughts raced through her head even as he punched her in the chest with the guard of the newly revealed sword, causing her to released her hold on his hand and allowing him to withdraw his primary sword from her body.

She stumbled back a few steps before managing to get a foot solidly placed underneath her and stopped the haphazard back-pedal.

But he didn't stop pressing the attack and continued forward, once again stabbing at her.

This time, though, Saya wasn't going to just let herself be skewered, and dodged to the right, barely blocking the second sword as it was swung at her face.

As she blocked the sharp piece of metal, a slicing sound could be heard and Saya once again stumbled forward and away as the freshly-cut wounds in her legs made her nearly incapable of controlling her feet.

It couldn't have been more than five seconds since their short clash ended before she felt to blades cut through her back as she finally collided with a wall and swung her sword backwards, trying to get the man to back off.

When he _didn't_, and only continued coming after her, Saya activated her blood-draining ability for Ru-Kui-n and swept a Chikesshou up at the ceiling in a crescent pattern.

The result was for much of the ceiling to be dissolved, but also for melting crimson blood to randomly and unpredictably drip down from it, making getting close to her impossible, if only for a few moments.

Saya had hoped he would get caught by at least one drop of acid-blood, but Fierezza was too nimble to allow himself to be caught by the dripping hazard and hopped back to a safe distance as her wounds healed and the acid ate away at the ceiling.

"I understand." He spoke calmly while waiting for her "barrier" to run out.

"You planned to use your ability to survive normally-fatal attacks as a way to trap my sword so I would be unable to ether escape _or attack_. It was a good tactic."

Despite her healing, Saya was still breathing heavily from the effort it took to keep the pain at bay. Though these wounds wouldn't finish her off, they were certainly taking their tolls on her stamina.

"But I don't just have one sword." Fierezza remarked, momentarily closing his eyes, only for three other swords to thrust out of the back of his vest.

"I have _five_. And I can wield them all interchangeably."

Her brain was too busy thinking of how to get past the new advantage of his. So applauding him for his swordsmanship wasn't exactly high on her priority list right now.

It didn't matter though; one sword, two swords, five swords, a _hundred _swords. Saya _couldn't _let herself get killed _or _defeated right now. She still had to go rescue Diva from her inhuman captors.

She would find a way.

She _had _to.

* * *

How long _was _this freaking hall?!

Dante had been running down, through and around his place for like ten straight minutes, nearly getting his head squashed like a melon about every two seconds of those, and the thing _still _looked like it would go on forever.

"Friggin' brat. I know he's pissed off and everything, but I thought these dudes were just buffed up humans. How can he still be swinging that damn thing around and chasing after me like this?" He asked himself within his head before spotting another corner up ahead.

"Guess I'll ask him."

Dante pulled Gemonia out from underneath his coat and aimed it forward at the bend in the corridor up ahead, firing off another Lamisalva, though with even less strength than before, at the wall up ahead that would be to his left once he made the turn.

Though the dozens of shining projectiles slammed into the wall they didn't immediately cause it cave in.

When he rammed himself into the wall and then dove for the "new" hall though, chunks of stone fell in and soon the pieces of the ceiling had fallen as well, effectively blocking the hall from anyone else passing through that way.

But that wouldn't last against maybe two full-fledged slams or hacks from that giant halberd.

Dante looked around, trying to come up with something to do before that little bastard caught up with him.

Nothing but walls all the way around, but…

He grinned.

"Got it."

Moments later, the halberd was swung at the pile of rubble and virtually burst through most of it, but he had just enough time to charge up another Lamisalva just as the rest of the rubble was struck out of the teenager's path.

His grin widened into a big toothy smile as Dante fired the salvo of shots off at the enraged adolescent, hitting him in the shoulder a few times, but nowhere all that effective.

Good enough for _him _though.

After seeing that Furia had in fact taken a few hits, Dante ran forward and leapt at the kid, avoiding a haphazard swing of the halberd in mid-air by spinning around it before swinging down across the boy's chest with Gemonia's barrel-blade.

Instantly a large gash appeared in his chest, but it wasn't enough, he knew that, and Dante stood on the shaft of the extra long axe before firing a Lamigarda into Furia's chest, causing him to gasp from the air blasted out of him more than grunt in pain while collapsing back into the rubble, this time with an extra-large hole in his chest.

"See ya get up from _that _one sunny-boy." He taunted the corpse, waiting a few seconds to see if his enemy was in fact dead.

The kid didn't get up.

A shrug was his only response before putting Gemonia back in its holster, sheath, whatever it was, and continuing on the way he'd been running.

"This hallway's really pissing me off. Too bad I don't have a lami-battleship gun. This would be a hell of a lot easier if I _did_. And what's up with that? How come _Dante _only gets _three_ special moves? Saya's got like…four or something."

Sound came from behind him, but it just sounded like more rubble falling so he ignored it.

"Yep, looks like I got screwed over again in this little adventure of ours. I want a manager or somethin' to help me out here." Dante remarked, rubbing his nose with a finger as the noise continued and his steps ceased.

"Great, now the kid can fight with a _hole _in his chest, huh?" He asked the air while watching the not-so-dead body of Furia get up once again, never having let go of the halberd since he'd died.

This crap was starting to get old.

Gemonia to find its way into his hands without Dante even realizing it before it was already charging up for a Lamicanhao.

Though he was coming back to life, there should still be a few seconds before he could get up and moving again. And it looked like he only healed his wounds, they didn't magically revert back to how they were before.

"Meaning this is the last time I'll have to put up with this night-of-the-living-dead stuff." He announced as the attack continued to prepare.

But it was taking too long, and the kid was reaching for-

"Damn, rock chunks. This isn't going to be amazingly fun." Dante commented inside his head as a large piece of the ceiling was picked up by the hand that Furia wasn't holding onto the halberd with, and then flung the thing at him.

He didn't have much of a choice, and fired the attack prematurely, disintegrating the rock in no time, but not strong to kill Furia.

When the dust cleared, however, his little enemy was gone.

"What the… where'd he go?"

A few moments passed, with no answer, but when the wall to his side was hacked down by the axe blade of a very large weapon.

"Shit." He spoke, trying to aim Gemonia at him and his weapon in time.

His ribs all being crushed and Dante's body being hurled through a wall all the way through to another room told him he hadn't succeeded, and he landed mostly in a heap on the floor of the amusingly close room.

Despite the immense pain in his chest, Dante couldn't help but chuckle at the fact that he'd managed to "find" a way out of this damn underground maze.

And as his body began to shove stuff back where it belonged, Dante pushed himself back up and looked from side to side before bending over and picking up his fallen weapon.

This room was like one big circle, and there were only the two entrances; the luxurious hole he'd just had his ass hit through, and a plain wooden door pretty much on the opposite side of the room.

However, he had absolutely no intention on running away again.

His enemy walking into sight, still dragging that damned halberd, and noticing him, gave Dante all the motivation he needed.

He opened and closed one of his fists for a few seconds before aiming Gemonia at Furia.

"Welcome to café Dante. We've got some absolutely splendid performances set up for you today. The first is a band from the Philippines, seconds a blues crew from Mississippi and my personal favorite, the ass-kicking express starring…"

He thought about it for a second, then shook his head as the somehow still-enraged teenager made his way into the room.

"Okay, do-over. Ahem. How do I put this elegantly?"

Dante chose his words carefully.

"I'm gonna beat your ass!"


	43. Live

"_But I need that don't I?" She asked Amshel, looking at the picture he'd shown her in the "anatoemee" book. It was hard to understand._

_There was a picture of a person with no hair, and no skin. Different parts had lines attached to them that went somewhere else, where there was room for its name. _

_As she sat on the stone cold floor, her hair over her ears to keep them from getting frozen, the girl's free hand trailed a finger from the part of the.. Neck, that he'd shown her, to the name._

"_Carrotid arturee?" She asked._

_Her caretaker had brought in other things too, and set up some sort of metal stand, and then set a bowl on top of it._

"_It is pronounced carotid artery."_

_She looked back down at the book, feeling embarrassed at not being able to read it._

_It wasn't like she didn't want to, but Amshel rarely let her read anything. And even when he did, she couldn't understand most of the things in the book._

_But… she was interested in what was outside this room. Even if it made part of her hurt, knowing all the things she was missing._

_He poured water into the bowl and then lit a tall candle before putting it beneath the stand, the flame touching the metal bowl. _

"_And we aren't sure if you need it or not. That is what I intend to determine in this experiment."_

_She frowned, mostly in thought._

"_What if I need it and you take it out?"_

_He gave her the slightest of glances before looking down at the metal bowl, checking on something._

"_Then you will die."_

_She looked down at the book again, her hands wanting to tremble, but incapable of doing so._

"_Oh."_

_As he placed a bundle of fabric down on the ground she continued going through the book, looking at all the different pictures, despite how scary many of them looked._

_It was impossible to keep her eyes from drifting over to the bundle as he unwound it and revealed numerous shining pieces of metal along the length of the thing._

"_What is that thing over there?" She asked, trying to think about something other than the cutting things._

"_It is to keep the removed portion from freezing after it has been taken out of you."_

_She swallowed._

"_Um…" The girl began as he examined his sharp pieces of metal._

"_What is it?" He asked, not sounding angry, but not interested either._

"_Will it hurt a lot?" _

_His eyes didn't falter from the instruments._

"_Yes." He responded mechanically._

_Amshel picked one type of thing out and walked once again over to the stand and seemed content with it now._

"_Put the book down now. I do not want it to get stained."_

_She did as she was told and closed the book before positioning it over the ground. _

_But her hands couldn't let go._

_They didn't want to._

_In fact, they wanted to bring the book up in front of her face to shield her from him._

_She'd known from the beginning that this would hurt. Just about everything he wanted her to do did._

_Eventually she managed to release the book, allowing it to fall to the floor, before bringing her arms back in, covering her chest._

_She breathed warm air into her hands as he approached her._

_Her hands twitched, wanting to go up to her neck._

_Her legs pulled in, wanting to push away from him. _

_Her eyes closed, wanting to pretend this wasn't happening._

* * *

She'd endured that for over thirty years. One "experiment" after another. Some of them painful to her body, others to her mind. But not one single day had been enjoyable…

Maybe it was too hot, or too cold. She might have been hungry or thirsty. Sometimes it was hard to breathe, other times it was hard to see.

Saya hadn't understood. She couldn't have. She was always treated kindly. Humans loved her. They cared about her. Over the years, the amounts of friends she gained grew, while Diva's chevaliers, people she knew could never really care about her, waned.

Why? Why was it so strange for her to kill humans? When they were the source of her pain all of these years? _They _had never treated _her _like anything that was worth even a single penny. A single _smile_. And yet her elder sister had always accused her of being evil.

She would never understand that _she _wasn't evil. Vergil had told her something once.

"It's not events that are evil. And if someone does things others find morally reprehensible then it is just as much an act of those who made them the way that they are as it is that person."

That was one of the reasons she loved Vergil so much. He didn't judge her.

She could irritate him, hurt him, make fun of him, ignore him, and do other things he disliked, but he never left her.

And over time, the things she did that bothered him grew less severe and it wasn't long before she only teased with him.

Diva had even done things _for _him sometimes. An act she had never performed in the past.

It wasn't because she was becoming good. And it wasn't because she was recovering from being evil.

She had never been evil. It was just she'd never had anyone to show her what "good" was.

Vergil was the only thing that gave her any sort of connection to how life was "supposed" to be. Without him, it didn't really matter _what _she went through. Whether it was fun or painful.

It felt like she was empty.

So… why _shouldn't _she die now?

"_You're wrong." A voice spoke to her, driving an axe through her window of despair._

It reminded her of one of the times she had actually had a serious conversation with Vergil.

She'd been unable to sleep, because she kept having dreams about the days back in the tower in France.

Naturally, Diva had hopped from her tiny windowsill to Vergil's before entering his room and approaching the bed.

And _naturally_, he was wide away, sitting up against the headboard of his bed.

Vergil hadn't even responded in an irritated way, a true sign that he understood how bothered she was.

* * *

"_What is it?" He asked her simply, no real emotion in his voice._

_Diva held onto her small blanket, one he'd gotten for her for Christmas, and frowned, not saying anything._

_His eyes looked at her, the ice blue eyes feeling like clear orbs gazing at her._

"_A nightmare?"_

_She looked down at the floor._

"_I… yes." Diva spoke, just barely above a whisper._

_Vergil looked away from her and she put her hands behind her back, feeling embarrassed for not being able to put up with the nightmares herself._

_Only a few seconds later he rolled away and looked in the opposite direction._

_She took a step forward, but held back._

"_Can I sleep in here tonight?" She asked him meekly._

_But he didn't respond for a few seconds, so she took another step forward._

"_I'll sleep on the floor if you-"_

"_I don't want you on my floor."_

_Her eyes looked away from him, hurt._

_Diva blinked._

_She saw a scalpel moving towards one of her eyes…_

_And the girl moved over to his bed and hesitantly pushed herself up onto it, sitting up._

"_Please let me stay. I'll sing for you if you do." She pleaded to his back._

"_I hate that song." He responded, striking the most sensitive emotional chord she had._

_She could endure the dreams, she didn't want to irritate Vergil anymore._

"_I'll leave then." She spoke apologetically._

_But Diva didn't get the chance to even slide a whole leg off the bed before he twisted violently and snatched one of her arms, pulling the girl completely onto the bed-_

_And into his arms._

_Her eyes- her whole body, trembled._

_He was hugging her._

_She tried to hold it back, but soon dug her head into his chest and let herself go, her unnatural strength gripping his sides hard enough to cause him pain, but he didn't so much as break their embrace and waited until she was fit to speak again before loosening the hug enough for her to move back a bit, staring up at her eyes as she rubbed her own._

"_Do you feel a bit better now?" He asked her, his voice unusually soft considering who was speaking._

_Diva nodded._

"_I thought you didn't want me in here."_

"_I didn't say that."_

_She looked into his eyes._

_And then he gave her a soft smile._

"_I just don't want you sleeping on the floor. It's uncomfortable."_

_She smiled back to him, an uncommon, sad smile, before pulling her blanket up to her chest._

"_So what were you dreaming about?" He asked her, the subject causing the girl to hesitate in her answering._

"_I was dreaming about…when I used to live in France." Diva spoke, both of them losing their smiles._

_He was the first one to speak again._

"_I thought so." Vergil remarked. He almost hated talking about her days in the tower in France as much as she did._

_Diva didn't know how to respond to this, so she simply lay down again._

_As Vergil descended as well, he asked her how she endured it while living there._

"_I would sing my song." She spoke hesitantly, remembering how he'd said he hated her song._

_Her love pulled her back into a loose hug, but she felt compelled to mention it._

"_I never knew you hated my singing." She spoke, her voice and singing being one of the few subjects she'd always been sensitive towards._

"_I don't." He responded, causing her to look up at him._

"_I just hate how you have to sing it. I know enough Latin to be able to tell what it's about."_

_She blushed before digging her head back into his chest._

"_How about you make a new song?" He asked, causing her once again to push away a bit and look up at him._

"_Only this time, make it a happy one. I think you should be able to do that now, right?" He asked, smiling again._

_Diva looked down, not sure._

_But then she put one of her hands into one of his and nodded._

"_I'll try. For you."_

_Vergil smiled once again. And she was better._

* * *

Diva opened her eyes, seeing the blade descending down towards her.

It finished its path, but there was neither a head lying on the ground nor crimson staining the stone.

However, a moment _later_, there was a _crater _in the _wall_.

Invidia slid down the crater as Bleu Rein sailed through the air and landed upright in her own hand, glistening.

She gazed into its reflection, seeing a smiling, white-haired young man in it for an instant. And she smiled herself.

It wasn't a sad smile though, like it always was before. It was just a simple happy smile.

Then he was gone and she looked over at Invidia, the smile still on her face.

"I was wrong. I don't want to die." She spoke to her enemy as the genderless template of misery struggled out of the rocky wall.

"If anything, the time I spent with Vergil proved to me that I want to _live_. And I know that he wouldn't want me to just give up and let myself die."

She didn't know if Invidia had experienced as hard of a life as she had or not. And it wasn't important to her.

"If you have such a horrible life, try to find someone who makes it better." She spoke, irritating the person who manifested their cut-and-paste version of her weapon.

"You say it like it's so simple!" The child yelled at her.

"It _is_ simple. I just got lucky this time." She spoke, glad her luck was starting to turn around now.

"Whether Vergil comes back to me or not, I'm going to live as long as I can. And I'm going to be _happy_ for _him_."


	44. Burning heart

I'm sorry, I made an error in the battle Saya had with the trio in the pit. The name of the attack that she used that wore her out was actually Shukokoro(bleeding heart). Anyone who didn't remember the name of the attack or who has read this story after I've updated that chapter shouldn't care or notice the error before, but I wanted to explain it to those who remembered.

* * *

"Your swordsmanship could use some work." Fierezza remarked, Saya barely having managed to survive since he revealed the three more swords for him to use.

But she didn't care whether he liked the way she wielded a sword. Because one way or another she _was _going to win this fight.

The man walked towards her, causing the girl to retreat, if only slightly.

"While your slashes and thrusts are straight and have good strength behind them your style in-and-of itself is too segmented. You will not be able to defeat me if you fight me on equal terms. You know this."

She did.

Like it or not, she was no match for a man whose life revolved around using swords in every practical way possible, let alone when he had _five _of them at his disposal.

"If you have any other manner of techniques, I insist that you use them now." He spoke, stepping on a piece of broken antique China and causing it to crack into pieces.

"Otherwise…" He began, lifting one sword up in a fencing stance while the other crossed over his stomach to guard it.

"You will die before the fire goes out!"

With that he thrust his sword forward towards her head, forcing her to dodge.

The sword that had been guarding brought the weapon over at her in a slash, this time forcing her to _block_.

What happened next was so fast she barely even acknowledged it; her body taking over the best it could since her brain was unable to keep up.

Letting both swords go, he pulled two of the three swords from the sheath within his vest and swept them down at her, Ru-Kui-In blocking them just long enough for the man to pull the last sword from over his back and thrust it through the base of her throat.

There wasn't even enough time to choke before all three of the new swords were back in place and he'd already caught the other two in mid-air as the sword wobbled in her hands, the extremities feeling weak for now as the hole in her throat closed up.

As it did, she came to the realization that not only wasn't she a match for him, she might actually _die _in this fight.

The thought of dying scared her somewhat, but only because she didn't want to let Diva or Dante or Haji or Lady down.

"I guess it can't be helped." Saya spoke, bringing the sword straight up in front of her while placing a hand on the crystal red rose at the base of the blade.

She closed her eyes, and heard Fierezza leap for her.

"Never let your guard down!" He said while closing in on her.

But she hadn't.

A moment later the crystal flower blossomed and enveloped the room in a crimson light, this time forcing _him _to back away.

"What _is _that?!" He asked her, holding both swords up in front of him in a defensive posture.

Saya's eyes opened, their color an even deeper crimson than the light that covered the room, and her free hand once again came down to grip the sword.

"Nibarayuubae(red thorn sunset glow). It makes my attack stronger." She answered, aiming the sword behind her before slashing through the air at him, sending a crescent of blood through the air so great in size he had to jump over it to avoid getting dissolved.

When he landed, she was already there, and her sword struck at him almost to quickly for him to bring up his weapons to block.

The force of her attack, however, was too strong for his aging body to handle, and he was thrust into a backbend, using the two swords that he had stabbed into the ground as a way to avoid sticking his hands into a melting mass of blood.

Within a few seconds he had the strength to push up and away from the imbedded swords and slash an "x" down at her with two of the swords from his back.

But she wasn't going to back down, and simply braced herself and her sword or when the two blades would meet her own.

When the weapons clashed sparks flew from the point of collision, momentarily making the room look like it was on fire; the yellow sparks combined with the red light.

Fierezza seemed genuinely surprised by her strength, but didn't hesitate to pull one sword down along the blade and attempt to stab at her stomach from under the still two clashing blades above.

Fortunately for her, his old arm wasn't strong enough on its own to hold her two-handed weapon still and she managed to bring both her and his sword down on the one below and stop its path towards her intestines.

They struggled, both trying to force their opponent's sword from his or her grip, to force open their guard so a final blow could be dealt. But neither was able to do so.

Sweat began forming on her forehead as the clash continued and though she was starting to make some progress; pushing his weapons back towards him, her footing was beginning to weaken.

The struggle could go either way like this and she couldn't allow this to be a battle of chance.

Whether she had more good luck or bad luck was hard to tell, but she didn't trust it to make her the winner.

As she contemplated a way to force him down, he, surprisingly, _did_.

However, he didn't simply lose grip of his swords, Fierezza rolled onto his back as Saya's sword slid along his, losing her balance as a result of his unexpected movement, and despite the fact she felt her sword cut his shoulder, as his feet came up and pushed her upwards, Saya was soon flying through the air.

Only the time she'd spent in Okinawa learning how to bar jump kept the girl from landing on her neck and she managed to thrust out at him, despite she left herself wide open in case he missed.

Unfortunately, that was exactly what happened, as he somehow managed to roll backwards and use his swords as pole-vaults to launch himself over her and land on her other side, his last sword in hand and aiming at her.

"If I stab through your skull, I wonder if it will kill you outright, or simply give me the time to use the other ones to sever your head from your shoulders." He contemplated out loud.

She couldn't bring the sword back quickly enough if he attacked, and since she was in such a vulnerable position, even if he _did_ attack and she dodged it, he would still be able to strike again before she could do anything else.

Saya felt strange though.

Despite the fact she had been wounded numerous times and had been straining her body for most of the fight, she didn't feel weak at all. In fact, she _actually _felt _stronger _than she had before fighting Fierezza.

Nibarayuubae was a technique she only managed to learn at the very end of hers and Dante's training session, so she hadn't been able to fully learn what it's abilities were. All she knew was that it allowed her to use her attacks without limits, in exchange for taking a few moments to prepare. Unlike Shukokoro, which could be used instantly, but drained a lot of blood from her.

"Either way, this fight is finished." Fierezza finished, bringing her out of her thoughts.

He thrust downward at her-

And the attack was slow.

Saya managed not only to roll out of its path, but also bring up her sword into a defensive posture before he could withdraw the sword for another strike.

His skin seemed paler, though it was difficult to tell with the red light covering the room. But he _definitely_ seemed weakened.

Now that she thought about it, _Dante _had been breathing pretty hard when the finally finished their "battle" before.

"Does that mean that it allows me to absorb my enemy's blood?" She thought while standing up.

"If so, then I _can _win this." Saya finished her thoughts out loud, prompting another attack from the man, which she struck away before cutting along his right arm in passing and turning around to face him once again.

He stood, knees partially bent as if under some strain, as Fierezza tried to stand up completely again, his arm seeming almost limp at his side.

"You think… that you've _beaten _me?" He asked her from over his shoulder.

"A brat like you could never beat me!" Fierezza yelled, pushing himself over to one of the two sets of swords.

He thrust his current sword into the floor before pulling the other two from it and throwing both at her, striking through her pants and fixing her feet to the floor.

Saya swept a crescent at him, but he seemed to be using his last ounces of strength to move as quickly as before and pulled the two swords which had been slightly eroded by her blood, and ran towards her.

As she struck out at him he blocked with one sword long enough to stab through her other shoulder, doing the same thing once her other hand was weakened, and pushed her backwards before slamming her body into the ground and imbedding the swords, and her, in the floor.

The pain was bad, but the knowledge that as soon as he got hold of his last remaining sword he would have a clear opening at her head was far worse, and she struggled against the blades both at her feet and in her shoulders.

She used all the energy the blood had given her but it was almost as if the swords were holding her down with actual intent, as they weren't even budging, even as Fierezza approached her again, this time holding a single, gleaming sword in his hand.

"Normally I wouldn't kill someone in this matter. But since you used whatever light this is to weaken me, I don't believe you deserve much better chances." He spoke, raising his sword; the thing seeming like a reaper's scythe.

She struggled harder than before but Saya wasn't making any progress and he was already preparing for an attack.

Saya deactivated her power and saw the red light fade from the room even as she closed her eyes, hoping the change in tint would make him miss.

However, the attack never even came.

Instead, what rang out as opposed to the sound of metal sliding through air, was a scream.

She opened her eyes and saw Fierezza stumbling around, dropping his sword and scratching at his body like he had a million fire-ants in it.

His paleness was gone, and she felt weak again. Did that mean?

"He got his blood back, but after it had turned acidic. His own blood is going to burn him to death from the inside out." She spoke in realization.

It was a horrible death, but unavoidable. There was absolutely no other way she would still be alive right now.

That being said, it had been a miracle there was a second effect of her ability, even after it had been deactivated.

As his screaming ceased and he fell down on the other side of the couch, sizzling being heard, she started to think that her luck was turning up again.

Then she pushed against the swords, and they still wouldn't move.

Saya sighed, hoping she would be able to do more than just lie embedded in the ground for the rest of the night.

* * *

To anyone who's interested, I've made my own forums at www. thebluepackden. freeforums. org/ .(Just enter it all in the searchbar without the spaces to go there.) I only have a few members other than myself and if you'd like to help out(meaning give it more members), simply joining it would be greatly appreciated. It'll also be a good place if you hate gigantic forums or jerks. As mine isn't big enough yet to have any. ha. I hope you liked chapter a bit.


	45. What a smashing fight

I know this chapter is shorter than the last one, but I had a harder time with Dante and Furia's fight than with Saya and Fierezza's.

* * *

"Raaaaaagh!" The teenager yelled at him while swinging the halberd in an arc at Dante.

He backed up, but the teenager swung again, the scene reminiscent of a mouse running away from a moving pendulum that would eventually crush it into bits.

But he didn't intend on getting crushed into _anything_. So instead of backing off again he feigned a jump upwards, knowing that Furia would change the path to head higher, and then slammed himself down into the ground and dove forward, knowing that with all of the momentum he'd built up and the length of the weapon, Furia wouldn't be able to bring the halberd down in time, and aimed at his chest with Gemonia, firing a Lamigarda into it.

Before the teenager could move the halberd, the blast fired through him and blasted the kid back, chest cavity and all.

He knew it wouldn't be enough to finish the brat off, but at the very least it would give him time to charge up a Lamicanhao and disintegrate the whole guy before he got swinging that huge-ass weapon around again.

Dante brought the weapon up in front of him once again, energy charging at the end of the barrel and beginning to grow in strength,

However, as it did, he noticed that the whole in the kid's chest was closing up faster than it had before, and he _also _noticed that there was no way in hell he'd be able to attack with a full-strength attack first.

So, cutting his losses, Dante fired a premature Lamicanhao at the kid-

And saw it get bashed into a wall like a baseball by the halberd.

"You…. cheated!!!" Furia yelled while spinning and dragging the halberd along the floor and as he heard it scraping at an increased pace he knew there wasn't anytime for another attack, and Furia had too much control over the weapon right now for him to try another trick like last time.

As much as he wand to just run over to him and get this shit finished with, Dante enjoyed not being a stain in the wall and decided to remain that way, even if it meant playing the dodging game again.

Which it did.

For minutes he simply ran around the room, diving and ducking to avoid getting splattered and Dante was noticing that Furia wasn't the _only _person getting pissed off at this.

It was time he went back on the offensive.

Dante jumped up above a swooping attack of the halberd and fired a Lamisalva.

Furia backed up and swung the halberd at them, and managed to shatter most of the tiny bullets of energy into nothingness, but a few made it passed and spun right through him, catching the teenager in the forearm and leg.

But it wouldn't take long to heal those wounds, and Dante knew it as he landed on the ground and picked up a big chunk of fallen stone in his free hand before throwing it at the kid's chest; breaking his breastplate and forcing him down onto the floor all in one noisy collision.

Switching the grip of Gemonia into a backhanded one, he leapt up through the air, his sword pointed down at Furia's torso.

But as he ascended towards the ceiling he saw that his enemy's wounds had already closed up and his didn't seem the least bit stunned.

There wasn't much Dante could do but brace himself as Furia swung the halberd up at him, somewhat luckily blunt-side first, and crushed his left arm and ribs before hurtling him over into a wall which was unfortunately too hard to break and broke his spine and back all before he landed on the ground in a heap.

He breathed heavily, making sure his hand still held onto Gemonia.

It wasn't, but since his spine couldn't tell his fingers to stay closed at the moment, seeing the hilt of it lying in his hand was enough.

"Well, now, that didn't work out particularly well now did it?" He asked himself while waiting for his body to repair his spine.

Furia was already up and approached him with fast steps, closing the distance between them quickly.

Dante knew he didn't have a lot of time, but he couldn't even crawl away if he wanted to and unless smart little stinging insults would win the day, he was screwed.

"Anytime you're ready." He told his body, which was still moving too slowly.

It'd gotten his shoulders working, but that didn't mean crap if he couldn't use his hands, and Furia was beginning to lift the massive axe over his head.

"Come on, come on. Work you useless piece of 1980's shit."

Furia finally got a frigging smile, wonder why, as the axe swung over towards him, the beaten, scratched up blade on the axe shining brighter than it should have.

Wrists. Wrists. Wrists.

"Hands!" Dante yelled out loud as he snapped his arms into position and fired a Lamisalva straight into Furia's torso, bringing the axe to a halt as it stood straight up towards the ceiling, held in his enemy's motionless hands.

Furia looked out blankly as his hands lost the strength to grip the halberd and let it fall.

Unfortunately, it was _falling_ in the same direction it had been _swinging _in and he had to use the still-recovering strength of his legs to dive into the stone floor and avoid getting his head mashed in as the still-deadly weapon descended on its course towards the ground.

Dante kept rolling, making sure he was well away from where it would collide with the ground. And when it did, the thing, despite having no force behind it other than momentum, made a sizable crater, the eight-foot-long handle reaching back to the feet of the wielder who had failed to recover from his injuries.

In fact, they weren't healing at _all_.

All he did was stand there, staring out blankly at the wall.

"So did he just run out of super-crazy-juice or something then?" He asked nothing in particular.

When nothing answered he just shrugged and stuck Gemonia back into its sheath while heading for the door to leave this room and hopefully this dumb-ass little maze.

His steps sounded louder now that there wasn't a bunch of crashing going on around him and he heard Furia finally fall forward and land on the ground.

Dante grabbed the handle of the door and gazed back at the kid's corpse one last time before-

"Hold on a sec." Dante spoke out loud, looking more closely.

The wounds were gone.

His eyes narrowed in confusion for a moment before he let out an exclamatory sigh and looked away.

"It's his frigging _weapon_!" He spoke out loud, answering the quiet question of how he'd kept healing those wounds of his.

He pulled Gemonia out from under his coat and spun towards Furia.

Seeing the younger male already standing and swinging the halberd at him wasn't what he was expecting to see, and he wasn't _prepared _for it _either_.

Dante barely managed to stick out a hand to put in the weapon's path before it smashed his head into the wall.


	46. Fiery desire

"Bastard. He took too long to kill." Furia commented, staring at the display.

For some reason, his hand was still holding onto the shaft of the axe, despite the fact the man's head was crushed.

"Doesn't matter." He spoke before spitting on the ground, looking at a wall to decide what to do next.

Furia had absolutely no damn idea where the other one was, which was really annoying.

"Fierezza's probably already killed her anyway, and even if she picked the middle hall Mizu'll be able to kill her in no time at all."

"That so?" A voice came from over his shoulder, and Furia snapped his gaze back to the end of the halberd.

The asshole was alive!

"Well, then, I don't have anymore time to play. Sorry… ya little shit." Dante remarked while pushing the weapon away.

* * *

"Guess it turns out _you're _not very special at _all_. A little extra muscle to swing that thing around, but you're _no _damn _wolverine_."

The kid's wide expression soon turned back into a sneer, and he raised the halberd again.

But he wasn't just running his mouth when he said there wasn't enough time left; Dante really _didn't _have the time to mess around with him.

Gemonia was pulled back into his hands and he flung it at Furia, imbedding the weapon in the boy's chest.

Before he had the chance to pull it out, Dante ran forward and grabbed hold of the axe and kicked Furia away, the teenager landing on his back with a weapon, but not in the place you'd want it.

Dante chucked the axe into a wall near the door before turning back towards Furia, who was hyperventilating.

"Huh, guess you're _not _just strong."

The teenager kept gasping, staring at the weapon wide-eyed, until he suddenly stopped gasping, and stopped grasping at the handle of Gemonia.

His eyes went dead, and after a moment Dante shrugged and walked over to him, pulling the thing from his chest.

"You know… if you'd just pulled the halberd away, _I'd _be dead right now." He told the dead kid.

After standing there for a few moments he just turned away and walked towards the door, feeling weird for even staying here long enough to say _that_.

He didn't have anything else to say. The kid was dead, he wasn't. That was all Dante had been after.

* * *

"I guess it's time for me to get going." Diva spoke to herself, staring down at the corpse of her defeated enemy.

"Sorry about that. But like I said, Vergil would be mad at me if _I _died."

Invidia did not answer.

"Anyway, I'm going to get going now. Thanks for the help. I might have been all grumpy if you hadn't made me think about him like that."

With that, she walked to the door and placed her hand on the handle of it.

"Hm." She spoke, biting down lightly on her lower lip out of curiosity.

Was the handle warm?

It was a metal handle- well, the whole _door _was metal. But it _still _felt warmer than it should have been.

She went into deep thought for a few moments… and then shrugged and smiled again.

"Oh well!" Diva spoke before opening the door.

Hot air blasted her in the face and Diva put a hand up in front of it as the pent-up air near the door was released into the hall.

"Huh. I guess it's the boiler room." The girl remarked, seeing rows of two boilers on either side with a path going straight across to the other side of the room. Leading to-

"Nothing?" She asked, still smiling but feeling weird for it.

Did that mean this was the wrong way to go? She could've sworn there was only one path to follow to get here.

She decided to check on it, since it was a whole bunch easier to look in here than run all the way back to that water room and go up the ladder.

The petals on her feet sizzled, though they didn't let any heat through, as she walked across the metal mesh floor of the room, looking from side to side to see if there were any doors or crawlspaces or bookcases in-between the boilers on each side.

They were old boilers; the fires raging inside could be seen by tiny barred windows and they almost looked like huge ovens from the industrial revolution.

Steam rose up from the floor, underneath which seemed to be-

"Pretty! Lava!" She spoke in excitement, bending over and putting her hands on her knees while looking down through the grate.

It was far enough down that any "popping" of it didn't reach the mesh floor, but she didn't care about that or the fact that magma, the underground original form of lava, would not possibly be somewhere this high up in the earth's layers.

The glowing redness looked really nice and if she had the time, Diva would have torn a bit of the metal grating off so she could get a closer look.

The blue rose in the neckline of her shirt fell out and though she was quick enough to grab it, Diva began falling forward when she lost balance, only able to keep herself from falling face first on the hot floor by putting a hand out.

A loud hissing could be heard as the petals making up the "glove" part of her little outfit reacted to the extreme temperature of the floor, but she managed to get the blue rose and stand up again before it fell through the mesh and down into the lava.

"Now then, how do I get out of here?" She asked, looking around for an exit.

"I'm afraid there _isn't _one for you." A deep voice spoke behind her.

It was within the room, but far enough away that even a cautious person wouldn't have to jump forward before turning around and spotting the big, muscled man near the door.

He had a hat on, a dirtied tank top shirt and sooty cargo pants, as well as a really dark skin tone.

Though it was impossible to tell if it was natural for him, or if it had darkened as a result of his being in environments like this a lot.

"Oh, sneaky. I didn't hear you sneak up on me like that." She complimented him, not intimidated.

He had short, seemingly reddish-brown hair beneath his wool cap and eyes that looked like fire, though it may have just been an effect of the room's red lighting.

The man pushed the metal door closed with a hand, the sizzling sound didn't seem to bother him as his bare hand shut the door, and when it came away, she saw why; the metal _door_ had began to melt, not his hand.

The boots that he wore didn't seem to be having a problem resisting the heat, even though there was a hissing sound with each step he made, she could not smell burning rubber or metal.

"You aren't going to find a door." He remarked, gazing past her.

She glanced over her shoulder, and notice that in addition to the brick made to construct this room, there was an area that looked like the lava had spurted up and formed a wall there.

"I covered it up." He finished.

Diva put her hands on her hips and bent over.

"Well that wasn't nice!" She spoke, still smiling.

"I almost started walking back the way I came. How rude to confuse a young girl." She chirped.

His face showed neither humor nor hatred, it looked like it was carved of stone.

"My apologies. But… you _aren't _young."

Her smile deepened and she stood up again.

"It's if you _look _it that _counts _ole' man." She returned cheerfully before giggling a bit.

The man looked at her for a few more moments before speaking again.

"You seem to have returned to the way you usually are."

Her giggling ceased and her smile faded to a dull grin.

"It seemed as if you were going to allow Invidia to kill you without putting up much of a fight, and then you turned it around and killed him within a few _minutes_."

She clapped her hands together.

"So it _was_ a _him_! I _thought _he kept giving me some looks! The little rascal!"

The big man stared at her for a few moments.

"I am Novero-otto, Incendio Venni Sinistramo. I'm going to take your sword back."

She gave a light, quick sigh.

"I suppose that means you aren't going to be a gentlemen and take down that little wall you put up then."

"You would be correct."

"Then I guess if I want to get through here…" She began, turning the blue rose into its rapier form.

"I'll have to kill you before bashing down that wall."

His eyes narrowed somewhat.

"It would seem."

Diva brought the sword up in front of her.

"Well let's get to it then, I've got a date with a murdering-bastard."

He lifted up a hand, opening the palm as he did so and releasing steam from it.

"We'll see."


	47. Shadow in the flame

"So, let me guess, you're mister flamethrower." She spoke to him, not intimidated in the least by the fact his arm was so hot steam was actually coming off of it.

But he didn't respond, which was boring.

"Fine, be that way. I guess it doesn't matter anyway." Diva said as she pulled her sword arm back a bit.

He didn't pull out a weapon or anything, but then again, that pervert-jerk hadn't look like_ he_ had _either_.

Her back leg pushed back even farther, her body preparing to pounce itself forward towards him like a cat towards a mouse.

Once again, the man remained completely still.

"Suit yourself." She thought before pushing off the ground and closing the distance between them in an instant, the tip of her blade leading the way.

However, the large-muscled man simply turned sideways, dodging the attack aimed at the right side of his chest while grabbing the blade with one hand and grabbing her neck with the other.

An abnormally-loud hiss sounded out and smoke rose up from beneath her chin as the "armored" petals covering her neck fought against the immense temperature present in his hand.

She had to struggle for a few moments, but luckily the strength of her chiropteran neck was greater than a normal human one, so her air supply wasn't getting cut off.

Eventually she brought up both of her legs and kicked him in the stomach, the powerful attack not going through his back as it should have, but forcing him to grunt and let go of both her neck and her weapon as she slashed at him, making the large man back off even more, though he was now completely balanced again.

He definitely wasn't a big idiot. This guy must be one of the strongest of all of them.

Not that it really mattered, since he was going to die anyway, but this might take a few minutes.

Diva tilted her head and bit her lip lightly, and then sent an Erebrise over at his chest.

The blue petals went through the air quickly but somehow he brought an arm in front of his chest and swung at them; managing to turn them all to dust instantly.

She was tempted to frown, but held it back.

This was definitely going to take a while.

But this guy was big and looked boring. She didn't _want _to stay here and fight him.

It was at that moment that she got an idea.

"Never mind!" She said happily before turning away from him and heading towards the area he'd managed to completely solder over.

She'd just knock the whole wall down! It would be as simple as that!

"Do you really think I'm going to just let you leave?" He asked her as she walked away, causing the girl to shrug.

"Do whatever you want. You're boring me now so I'm going to go somewhere else." Diva responded, not even looking over her shoulder.

"I see." Was all he said as she reached the wall, knocking on various parts of it despite the fact she had no idea what to listen for to identify a hollow spot.

The back of her head tickled, and Diva hopped to the side just in time to see his hand thrust by, catching a few strands from her long hair in passing and burning them before she'd even finished the dodge.

She swung Bleu-rein at him, just to make the bully back off, but when he rose his hand, palm facing down, flames emanated from it and just out to form a large Flambard sword which stopped her attack dead in its tracks.

The big, flame-like blade and smoky-looking simple guard and handle looked typical of his kind of demeanor but she didn't have a whole lot of time before he-

Her neck was grabbed once again by a large hand and he lifted her up into the air, her feet dangling like a hanging fish's tail fin.

The sword was reared back and aimed at her chest, the fiery light of the room making the sword look like a blade from hell or something, and it thrust at her midsection.

Diva didn't even try to do the same thing as last time since it probably wouldn't work anyway, and parried the weapon.

She _tried _to anyway.

But even with her chiropteran strength, the man's attack still wasn't knocked aside and they struggled against each other's blades; Incendio trying to run her through and Diva trying to push it away so she could escape.

Despite her using all of her strength, the man's massive brute force slowly managed to slide his sword further and further towards her until the blade met the "armor" that she wore, once again producing the sizzling sound as the weapon attempted to push itself through.

She knew there were only a few seconds before the suit gave in and decided to take a bit of pain in exchange for getting away.

Bleu-rein whipped up from the sword, allowing the tip to sink through the petals that covered her body as she brought up her sword and swung it at his neck.

The sword was only stuck in her for an instant, but the searing heat she felt in addition to the puncture wound hurt so much that even _she _felt light-headed for a moment, before he withdrew far enough to avoid her attack.

Big muscle-guy or not, he wasn't tough enough to keep from getting his head cut off if the blade had connected.

Still, when she landed on the ground, her knees knocking against the hard mesh floor, she had to take a few deep breaths.

He gazed down at her with the same solemn, boring expression he had before, only now she was _kneeling _in front of him.

"You would be better of just giving me your sword. My weapon barely touched you and you're not even on your feet. You can't win."

Despite the fact she still had to take a few more good breaths, Diva pushed herself up.

"What makes you think that? I've felt pain before. It's nothing new."

He didn't move as she stood up, just closed his eyes, a disappointed expression showing vaguely on his face.

"You don't understand… do you?"

Diva blinked in confusion as he brought the sword up again, facing horizontally.

"Incinerate them, Vulano(volcano)." He spoke before his skin took on a reddish tint and his breath turned to fire as he breathed it out.

Soon after she heard that familiar sizzling sound again, though this time much louder and without the need to be in contact with either him or his weapon.

It had gotten much hotter too. Despite it had to be at _least _in the 90's here already.

A moment later her outfit outright combusted and she was once again without any sort of clothing.

More importantly though, her feet felt like they were melting; now standing on top of burning metal with nothing in-between them.

She bit her tongue to fight against the pain she felt without moving from her position while trying to make some of her hair fall over her chest.

Incendio opened his eyes again, staring at her nude form as if he were simply looking at a wall.

"You said you'd felt pain before," He began, raising Vulano and bringing it across his shoulder.

"But have you ever been set on fire before?"

Her eyes widened just in time to witness him swing his sword and envelop her in a curtain of flame.

It only took about two seconds to feel the pain.

It didn't even take a whole _other _one for her to scream and swing her sword around blindly, cutting through whatever it hit as she thrashed around, trying to get rid of what was hurting her.

There wasn't _anything_ she could do to make it go away. There were just furnaces, stone walls and a metal floor in here. And she continued swinging the weapon around even as she began to hear something melting on her body.

It wasn't going to stop her.

There was no way she would let something like this _kill _her.

She glared out at him through the fire, still holding the same expression as before, and leapt at him, her sword reaching out.

Incendio brought up his large Flambard, which would easily reached _her _before _her _sword could reach _him_.

But she couldn't take that into consideration on account her brain had a bit of pain to deal with right now.

Their weapons approached each other and she prepared, although reluctantly, to be cut down the middle.

As she did though, a strange thing happened; a breeze wafted into the room.

It whipped at the walls and blew away the flames covering her as she felt something get in-between the two of them.

The next thing she knew, the breeze was gone, and for some reason, despite furnaces being all across this room, she was in someone's shadow.

He was clad in bandages and his skin seemed very dry, but nonetheless his was holding off Incendio's large weapon with only a single sword, curved at the end.

For a moment, it was Vergil.

Then he looked down at her, his eyes still icy blue like the man she loved, and gazed into her own blue eyes.

It was kind of weird, they seemed to have a softer look than usual.

"My apologies for taking so long. Death isn't something I'm accustomed to recovering from."

Her wide, blinking eyes narrowed to normal and she felt a small smile make its way onto her face.

"It's okay, Nero. I forgive you."


	48. Spark in the darkness

"What are you doing, Nero?" Incendio asked him, causing the now-frail looking man to look back at him.

"That should be obvious. I'm defending her from you." He stated, noting the careful selection of the words.

The response caused Incendio to blink, despite him not giving an agape face as well to show confusion.

"You're saving her? Why?"

He thought about all of the different reasons he could give. Some more about him, others about her. While still _others_ were simply to spite Ritorno.

But after going through all of them in his head, he finally decided which reason it was.

"Because I _want_ to."

_This _response _did _cause Incendio to show an expression of surprise. Although it quickly vanished again.

"Really?" He asked rhetorically before scraping his sword against Nero's and separating the two.

"I would have expected a more reasonable answer from you. Though I suppose it doesn't really matter."

Nero gazed at the man that used to more or less be his subordinate.

There wasn't any feeling of camaraderie whatsoever, just the desire to remove whatever obstacle was in his way.

They would fight and he would win, it was that simple.

The two stared into each other's eyes, as if trying to find the other's reason for fighting.

But…

He felt an edge of his mouth curve slightly upward, forming a strange sort of smirk or grin, eliciting a sort expression from Incendio.

"What is it?"

Nero felt the vaguely humored expression on his face greaten, if only for a moment.

"Sorry, it's just…" He glanced back at Diva, feeling it turn into a smile.

"You just look so boring."

Despite the fact the girl was sitting on a floor with no clothes, she still managed to giggle at the first joke he'd ever seemed to make.

"Diva, go sit in the shadow." He told her, almost able to feel her looking around.

"I don't see any."

His smile vanished and he slashed through the boiler behind him with the left sword, disabling the boiler and allowing the corner of the room to become lightly shadowed.

"There."

He felt her get a strange smile before crawling over into the corner.

"You're still rather strong." Incendio remarked, commenting on his ability to keep her from getting burned while she was in the shade despite the fact the metal floor would have still been just as hot as before.

"Perhaps." He responded while gazing at one of the shining black hook swords.

"Or maybe, you're just weak." Nero spoke, looking into the large man's eyes.

"…maybe."

He felt his mouth wanting to make a grin again, but suppressed it.

"Come on." Was all he said, and the massive iron-worker-warrior attacked him, a trail of fire following behind his weapon in its wake as it swung through the air.

He brought up one of the hook swords and met with strong force as the brute strength of Incendio's massive muscles struggled against the strength Nero's greater general power awarded him.

However, soon the brute strength began to overcome the wavering power he once had-

-causing him to hit his left sword with the other and bash away Incendio's sword long enough for him to step forward and slice along the large man's arm as he walked past him, neither of them showing any sign of pain or effort before whipping around and slashing at each other again, this time the large sword clashing against both of the thinner ones held in Nero's hands.

This time it was a dead stalemate and neither, despite straining to do so, seemed capable of forcing the other off-balance.

However, Nero's strength was inherent; it was not based on his physical mass. Which allowed him to easily slip his feet down and fall backwards while keeping his defense up.

Incendio hadn't been expecting the maneuver and fell forward, though he kept from landing on his head by rolling forward along the hot metal and coming up again, his back against a wall.

Nero brought his legs back over his shoulders before flipping forward and landing on his feet, facing away from the big man who was smart enough to realize just because his back was facing him didn't mean he wasn't ready for an attack.

He turned his head, looking behind him towards Incendio.

It was somewhat amusing to note that the spot that the man had rolled over looked scorched while his bare arms looked just as they had before.

"I know I'm weaker than usual, but you don't think you can kill me like _this _do you?" He asked his opponent with a condescending tone.

The man's gaze didn't change and remained as rocky looking and chiseled as before.

"I had wondered _how _much weaker you were now and it would seem you are correct."

He began to feel a bit gratified.

"But don't think for a second that just because you used to be able to deal with my full strength that you'll be capable of doing so now. If you want my full strength…"

While he spoke, the magma beneath them rose up towards the metal grating on which they stood. As well, the boilers seemed to go out of control and rivets began blasting out of the hot iron furnaces, allowing flames to dance out of them.

The cuts on Incendio's arm lit on fire for a few moments, but didn't seem to so much as _irritate _the man, let alone make him cry out in agony.

Once the wounds were cauterized the flame disappeared and the depths of his eyes looked like an inferno itself.

"Then I'll let you have it."

* * *

"Oh my go- Thank you!" Dante all-but-cried out as he opened the door and saw a different-colored corner on the other side; signifying his official escape from that damned maze.

The hall immediately turned left at the corner, and he noticed just as he closed the door behind him, the sound making no echoing noise at all, that the doorknob to the door not ten feet away was opening as well.

He grinned, ready for whatever ugly-ass, big chunky monster, goblin, troll, ogre, dragon thing he had to face-

And saw a teenage girl with medium-length black hair step out of it, noticing him just before she closed the door behind _her_ as well.

"Well gee, that's a letdown." He thought out loud, causing a glance from her as she walked towards him.

"Sorry, I'll try to be taller with breast-implants the next time you see me so you won't be disappointed." Saya responded, looking left in the T-shaped hallway; the only direction left.

He laughed before looking that way yourself.

"You've been around me too long. I knew I'd rub off on you eventually."

"So long as I don't start smelling like pizza…" She spoke, feigning a cryptic voice.

The both gave a small chuckle before he interrupted it with a question.

"So, you kill another one?"

The smile disappeared from her face and she nodded.

"Yes. He was tough too."

Dante nodded as well.

"Yeah. Mine also. What's that then? Fifteen?"

"It's eleven Dante."

He counted it off on his fingers before coming to a somewhat similar conclusion and nodding.

"And according to the numbers they've been giving us, as well as what we've heard about the way they are ranked, the only ones we've fought are the weakest members."

He frowned, remembering how he couldn't do jack to beat Nero when they fought before.

"Yeah, but maybe we'll be lucky and they'll be good 'ole Americans; the lower guys kick all the ass and the top-rankers are just a bunch of fat old men with money for toilet paper."

They walked towards the end of the hall, neither really paying attention as they let their legs do the work.

"Somehow I doubt it." She responded.

However, they had a significantly bigger problem than just some big-wigs right now.

Or, to be more exact, a _nonexistent _problem.

"Uh, where's the frigging door?" He asked bluntly, seeing nothing here but dark-grey hallway.

No bookcases with bright red books, no candelabras sticking out of the walls and no indentation to put the "five different chess plugs" into.

Both of them looked around before Saya noticed that the tiled floor seemed stranger here than in the rest of the hallway.

"Does the tile we're standing on look a lot bigger to you?" She asked, prompting him to look down and notice it as well.

"Well, don't _you _have a good brain in that pretty little head?" Dante responded before bringing a booted foot up.

"Wait, what if we'll fall into-"

CRASH

The large tile beneath them was crushed inward by his powerful stomp and they both fell down into a bright light.

Seconds later the light felt really wet as Dante landed standing while Saya fell on her rear into the water.

He brought a hand up over his eyes while looking around as she pushed herself up, water dripping from the sleeves of her shirt.

"Into _water_!" She spoke again in a loud voice.

He shrugged it off, spotting a door at the far end of the large, water room.

"Dante why don't you ever stop to listen?! It'll take forever for my clothes to dry if it's just a bunch of corridors up ahead of us again!"

Her protest didn't stop the man, so she grabbed the shoulder of his coat and forced him to look at her.

"Just pay attention to me from now on, okay?"

His eyes looked down at her as he mentioned the front of her shirt was wet.

As she noticed what he meant and covered the front wet fabric with her arms, calling him a jerk, he chuckled and ran through the water towards the door, splashing her with water as he did so.


	49. Molten sacrifice

"That's the best you can do? A little heat?" He asked the man, somewhat taking away from the dramatic scenery that had become their fighting arena.

"A _lot_ of heat." Diva undermined him.

He closed his eyes for a moment, dispelling the anger that had suddenly built up, and then opened them up again.

"Okay, maybe a bit more than a _little_ heat."

She giggled behind him.

Incendio remained as stone-like as ever and Nero felt his altered personality getting bored with the man.

"Let's just finish this up." He spoke to him.

There was a pause between the two of them as the flames raged throughout the room.

"Let's."

Then they ran at each other.

Incendio swung the large sword down at Nero, but he sidestepped and spun backwards, swinging both swords at him in response.

The sword came up to dodge the two of his own.

He was more mobile, however, and while one of his swords remained against Incendio's the other swiped down at his leg, cutting a small trail along the top of his right leg.

However, he leapt back when flame blasted out at him instead of blood.

As it bellowed up into the air, Incendio came through it, hacking down at him as he did so.

Nero swung one of the swords at him, intercepting the man's attack while sending a Nerofalda up at him at the same time, the large black crescent getting cut in half and slicing its way past both of his arms at the same time; flames spewing out of the cuts before cauterizing them.

He didn't wait to see if it would stun the man and spun around him, slicing across his back in passing.

The man looked like a big machine with jet spewing out flame behind him. The long scorched parts of his body where he'd been wounded seeming as nothing but a bad paint job.

Normally against someone with this much mass slashes and, generally, _cutting_, weren't particularly effective and you'd have to stab them to get any noticeable results.

But unfortunately, trying to stab with hook-swords was impractical so that option wasn't available to him.

Still, both the neck and tendons remained. This was far from a losing battle.

He _did _need to find a way to end this quickly though. He didn't have-

Incendio turned around and swung his sword at Nero, who back-stepped into a wall.

In retaliation, he tried to slash out at the man, but the free hand swung back at him as well and Nero had to kick it away and then back off again to avoid getting gutted by the second sword strike.

Unfortunately his back hit the same wall as before and didn't have enough room to escape, so he was forced to strike both of his hook-swords down to make an "O" to block the sword's tip from skewering him.

But his block was weaker this time than the others and it only took a few moments before the swords began to get pushed apart.

He strained to keep them together, trying to keep his mind blank of everything but defeating his opponent.

His opponent seemed to grow larger the more ground he gained and Nero knew that despite his discipline, fear was beginning to set in.

The man seemed to take up the whole area between the wall to his left and the furnace to his right.

But he had enough room to see the girl behind him, frowning.

Nero had absolutely no idea why, but he didn't like seeing her look upset.

He shook his head to clear out the thoughts and somehow managed to bring up a foot and kick all of the swords aside long enough to step forward and ram into Incendio's stomach.

It felt like charging into a brick wall, but he still managed to shove him back a few feet and used the opportunity to bring both swords across his chest, stepping back and out of the way of the fire as it billowed out at him.

Typical of his enemy, Incendio didn't stay back for very long, and brought up his sword, the fiery hot metal seeming to melt through the stone ceiling to allow it enough space to raise up completely, and then swung down at him like a hammer.

Nero knew he wasn't strong enough to outright block the attack, but losing ground was even less desirable, so he brought both swords across each other and braced himself.

As the sword struck down towards him like a stone tower toppling down to the ground, Nero felt the full force of the attack and felt the mesh floor beneath him bend underneath the strain that was being put on it.

If he had been at full strength and at the peak of his power, he probably could have struck away the attack with a single sword. But as he was, the weakened man was straining to simply hold off against it while trying to aim the attack away from him.

Once again Incendio seemed to grow in size and it wasn't until he saw Diva, this time with a somewhat worried expression on her face, that he found the strength to slide Incendio's attack away and down towards the floor, where it slid through the metal mesh like it was liquid butter.

He dropped one of the swords and back-handed Incendio across the nose, striking him away long enough for Nero to get back, but not long enough to retrieve the fallen sword.

As his opponent rose up he contemplated whether to go for the sword or stand his ground.

He decided to go for it and swung a Nerofalda at Incendio again to stall him so he could retrieve his weapon.

Nero heard Diva yelp, probably as a result of almost getting hit by the attack once it was cut in two, but had more to worry about as Incendio was already above him raising the sword.

There wasn't enough time to escape and he had to try and attack himself to avoid getting bisected.

Unfortunately it didn't protect him quite as much as he would like and while he _did _manage to avoid getting cut in half, in the process of blocking the attack his own swords' double-edged blades struck his chest and cut into it, making him grunt in pain before spitting into the man's face and kicking him in the stomach.

Not giving him the chance to get on the offensive again, Nero ran forward, ignoring the red liquid on Incendio's face, and brought his weapons up.

However, Incendio had been stunned in the least and once again struck out at him, this time forcing Nero to dive down onto the metal grating to avoid the horizontal attack.

He didn't even have enough time to stand up before his enemy brought the sword above his head and swung down at him.

Nero rolled out of the way and allowed the sword, and the flames that seemed to now be coming from it, to melt away the space he'd been in before and the two feet on either side of it, sending the remaining pieces down into the magma to dissolve.

There wasn't anywhere else to go, so Nero was forced to kick the man's shin to see if he could buy some time to stand up.

It worked, and Incendio fell to a knee long enough for Nero to get back to his feet and slash at his neck.

Unfortunately Vulano came up and blocked the attack and he had to back off again.

His enemy was already back on both feet and standing in front of the large hole he'd made in the metal grating, sword in hand.

He couldn't afford to go through another clash, and Nero didn't have enough time to drain the man of blood by way of hundreds of tiny little slashes.

"I've only got the one chance." He thought, looking down at both of the swords while switching them so both blades faced left.

He took a deep breath and then stepped forward, spinning as he did so.

In a moment he was revolving around faster than a whirlwind and both hook swords sliced out at every angle towards every body part.

Incendio's strength and sword were both rather impressive, but all of the weight of both made it all-but impossible for him to block even a tenth of the attacks as the cut through his legs, arms and chest.

The flames that spewed out of his body didn't reach Nero's body through the gust that was brought up with the speed of his revolutions and it was much the same as a hundred small electric saws attacking a side of beef.

However, it wouldn't take his enemy very long to find a way around the attack, and this was nothing but a diversion.

Nero stamped a foot down onto the metal grating, ceasing his spinning, and leapt over Incendio's head.

Using the curved ends of the hook-swords to reach under and grab the hand guard of the weapon that protected his enemy's head and neck, he pulled it out of his grip as the white-haired man's body arced towards the mesh floor on the other side of the hole, the sword dragged behind him.

He landed with more of a clang than a thud, and lost his grip on Vulano.

Fortunately this wasn't a bad thing, as it resulted in the weapon falling through the hole in the floor and down into the magma.

The fight wasn't over, but at the very least he no longer had a sword to deal with. Whether the Flambard had survived its descent into the magma or not, not even _Incendio_, hot blooded though he was, could just dive down into it like a swimming pool and get it before coming back up.

Still, as his hulking form turned around to face towards Nero and his legs bent, Nero knew that there was plenty of danger left in this battle.

As expected, Incendio jumped over the resting place of his weapon, the man's rugged work-boots aimed for Nero's head.

He forced himself to stand up and haphazardly swung one of the swords behind him to keep him back.

But the weapon met with resistance when his enemy's scorched arm stuck out and grabbed it, holding the double-edged blade in his grip like a vice.

He kicked Incendio in the gut to make him let go, but all it caused him to do was digs the treads of his boots into the metal mesh to keep from getting pushed into the same death trap his sword had.

Nero decided the best thing to do was release the sword and hope _it _didn't get tossed into the magma pit like Vulano had.

Incendio tossed it over his shoulder and it seemed like the weapon would be okay, but he couldn't worry about that right now.

A massive hand speared towards him and grabbed him by the neck, lifting him up into the air and burning it at the same time.

He scowled and kicked Incendio in the shoulder before bringing up the remaining hook-sword and stabbing the curved point down into his arm, pulling it away so that he could land on the ground.

Before Incendio could pull the sword out of his arm, Nero ran inside and slammed his fist against the man's "floating ribs"; the weakest ones.

Nero heard both break after several strikes and he brought one hand down near the ground before stomping down onto the metal mesh and firing it up into Incendio's jaw.

The teeth in his mouth could be heard cracking against the strain, but Incendio showed no signs that he was in pain and grabbed the wrist of the hand that had hit him and hurled Nero back across the gap that had been made in the floor.

As he landed the man was already blasting himself across the space as well and slammed into him with all of his bulk.

Nero was catapulted into the wall, but used the breaking feeling in his back to jump forward once again and stomped on the large man's kneecap, bringing him down onto his other knee and grabbed the back of his head before pulling his own head back and slamming the top of his skull against the man's nose.

Despite using the hardest part of his head against the most fragile part of his enemy's it still felt like head-butting concrete, but that didn't keep him from doing the same thing again and again until he couldn't see and felt the frontal parts of his skull crumbling off.

"I don't have much more time left, I have to kill him before I run out of strength." Nero thought to himself, trying to literally regain his head.

Though his vision was still rather hazy he could still tell Incendio, despite having what seemed to be a tiny limp, was approaching him again.

"Damnit." Nero spoke under his breath while sticking his index and ring fingers under his middle finger and bringing it back, targeting the point above the ribs and below the breastplate; the easiest place to penetrate.

His left eye was hazed red, but the right one seemed to be unencumbered and he relied on _that_ one for spotting the right place.

The hand leapt forth, a bull's-eye temporarily seeming to appear where his chosen point was-

-and his arm was grabbed before it could reach where it wanted to go, his coat catching on fire where Incendio grabbed before he flung him over his head towards the hole in the floor.

Nero thrust the burnt arm into the ceiling to create drag and managed to, despite breaking several bones, keep himself from skidding off of the "ledge" and down into the magma.

His relief was short-lived, however, as one of Incendio's booted feet stomped down onto his chest, instantly cracking his breastplate and tempting to go further down and crush his heart against his spinal chord.

He grunted out blood and air while gripping his foot with one hand and using the arm of the other broken one to push at his leg.

But it didn't seem to so much as inch it out of place and soon his body ran out of strength and his head fell backwards, hanging over the edge of the floor, staring through a red mist at-

"Strange." He thought, momentarily forgetting about the pain.

The girl was looking at him with a sad expression, making his eyes go wide for a second.

"Is that…pity?" He asked himself.

It was.

Someone was _pitying_ how _weak _he was.

He scowled.

"No." Nero told everything around him while pulling himself backwards and bringing his arms back as well.

"A _draw_…_maybe_… but I am _not _going to lose _again_!" He yelled inside his head while leaping upwards, pushing Incendio off him and off-balance before grabbing him around the neck and hurling both of them down through the space in the floor.


	50. Sisters' companions

I know the chapter's shorter than usual, but I'll try to get another one up soon.

* * *

He felt the blistering heat.

He'd _been _feeling it ever since he became weakened during the battle.

And as Nero descended through the floor, he realized that the heat was intensifying.

But something strange happened.

You don't fall down towards magma every day of the week. One could even say it is near impossible to do so, since volcanoes aren't as numerous as a pothole in the road.

There couldn't have been more than two feet between the metal grate that was the floor and the magma, now that its level had risen.

Yet when he fell towards the supernaturally hot substance, Nero did not feel himself vanish, dissolve or otherwise disappear into its molten greatness.

All he felt were two hands grab him around the waist and keep him from falling in.

Incendio's body sank down into the earth's blood, still not showing any signs of pain, yet _he _was _not _going down.

He looked upwards, and saw what looked like two blue moons in space.

And then Nero blinked and realized it was Diva who saved him as she pulled him up out of the hole and onto the floor, the both of them collapsing on top of it; him on top of her.

It was a strange contact. Or, to be more specific, it was strange to be in contact at _all_.

The man had never gotten particularly close to anyone before, since there had never seemed to be any logic in it.

If you put your faith in anyone or anything other than yourself, you will eventually be disappointed. Not one person has ever made it through life not being let down at one time or another when they depended on others.

Worse still, it might not even be directly your fault. If someone else's plans don't go with yours and they can't assist you, it was only them.

What is there then to fix?

Nero had always preferred to rely on himself, and occasionally Bianco, because he knew that if he ever failed at anything it would be his- and _only _his fault.

But now he realized there _was _no logic in trusting other people. If you care about them, not being able to use them whenever you want like a tool was unimportant.

You depend on people because you _want _to. Because you are allowing yourself to be weakened, however little, in exchange for giving them a piece of who you are.

Nero's "power" couldn't have saved him from the fiery fate below. Nor his weapons or anything else related to him.

It was this girl he'd met less than a whole day ago.

"You're strange." He thought out loud, causing her eyes to widen.

Then she put on a pout.

"Well! Maybe I'll just let you fall _in _next time!" She spoke, facing away from him and frowning.

He sighed, staring up at the ceiling.

"I'm…sorry."

Once again her eyes widened. However, _this _time she smiled afterwards.

"Really?"

He closed his weary eyelids.

"Yes…I'm sorry for not making you pay me to save you."

"You!" She spoke, rolling him over onto the grating and eliciting a small laugh from him. Soon she joined in as well.

"I seriously apologize though." He spoke through the laugh, eventually allowing them both to cease, though they still held smiles as remembrances.

"It's okay. Hearing that from a twenty-year-old senior person with white hair doesn't make me feel _all _that bad."

He glanced at his hair.

"Well, I suppose I can't argue with that."

She'd been expecting him to have a clever comeback and looked a bit guilty when he responded in such a way.

Nero didn't like seeing her looking upset and sat up, pulling his jacket off.

It had seen better days. The very ends of the sleeves had been sliced off when he fought with her before back in the "coliseum" and the garment had been burnt away up to the elbows when Incendio had grabbed his arms earlier, but it was better than her "birthday suit" and since he was taller than her would probably cover up at least enough of her _lower _body as _well_.

Luckily it didn't take much strength to suppress the natural heat of the room, and the temperature increase that had come when Incendio's strength released had receded.

He handed her the jacket, since it was impractical to simply put it over her with how long her hair was.

She smiled and pulled it on right over her long mane of hair, managing to pull out every single strand with an expert's finesse despite the collar being as tight as it was.

Afterwards Diva buttoned the jacket up and he was pleased to note that it covered enough of her lower portion for it to be fairly modest.

It was strange that he cared at all though.

In any case, he knew she wanted to keep moving and began to get up just as she did.

As he did, however, Nero felt a strange sensation in his chest, as well as an intense warmth.

He looked forward, seeing that Diva's eyes were staring, surprised, at the spot where he felt the sensation.

Nero looked down and saw something sticking out of it; a large blade with a red tint to it that resembled fire being seen through glass.

When, despite the general hotness of the room, he began to feel cold, Nero knew that he'd been run through.

The blade withdrew, and he heard its wielder fall back into the molten bath for the last time as he fell forward into someone's arms.

* * *

"You…have _got_…to be fricking…kidding me." Dante spoke, in awe of how annoying this place could be as he noticed yet _another _long corridor.

"What? Have you been here before?" Saya asked him, seeming confused.

He shook his head.

"No. But I'm pretty sure it's another goddamn _maze_! Ow!"

The last comment came when he got slapped in the back of the head.

"Hey, what the hell was _that_ for?!"

She sighed, letting her hand come down.

"You swear too much, Dante."

His head withdrew, as if in disbelief.

Then Dante stamped a foot into the ground and beat his chest hard enough to make a mark.

"I'm an American _man_ biatch-"

Something kicked him between the legs and he fell forward.

"Agh!"

"And _that _was a _girl's foot_. Now, let's get going." She responded temperamentally before running off down the hall.

"Damnit!" He yelled after her, fighting against the pain while waddling his way down the corridor as quickly as he could, both hands guarding his "pride".

"Yeah, well your chest looks like a twelve-year-old!"


	51. Rejoined

Have you ever watched your blood fall to the ground?

It's a strange sensation.

Feeling no pain, and yet realizing that every drop- every red blood cell that leaves your body and hits the ground is one step further you take away from living.

Stranger still, Nero watched _his _blood drip from his wound and hit the metal grating. Though he couldn't hear the light sizzling sound that sounded out as the blood dripped down towards it he could feel the impact as each droplet collided with the metal and then rolled down it, falling a few feet down and into the magma below.

He felt it for what could have been seconds or hours. It was hard to tell; like when you're so sick that you wake up at seven in the morning and think it is seven at night.

It was as if he felt like jello, slowly melting down into liquid form and dissolving towards the ground.

And then all at once, the feeling dissipated. And he was… complete again.

The feeling was akin to when your ears "pop" on an airplane or after they've been filled with water and it all comes out.

His stomach, now showing pale skin beneath his tattered black shirt, was completely healed.

Nero blinked in confusion, and then realized he was in someone's arms.

Before he could react, the hands that were hugging him came away and pushed him up, and he saw Diva looking at him, appearing as surprised as he felt.

She seemed to be thinking for a moment and then a look of realization dawned on her face.

"You said that I hurt myself to attack you before, right?" She asked, despite he had just narrowly escaped death for a reason he was still unaware of.

Nevertheless, he responded.

"Yes."

She gained a bit of a grin, as if commending someone for a good job.

"Whenever Saya or I put our blood into someone else, they become our chevalier; our bodyguard. They want to protect us, no matter what. And they can heal when they would normally die. You said you were her chevalier, remember?"

Nero's eyes didn't widen, but he was _still _surprised.

"I…see."

She frowned at his tone, which he noticed sounded a bit upset as well at what he had apparently been expected to remember.

"So then this feeling that I have is just _my _blood responding to _yours_ then?"

A brief, sad smile was her response to that, but then she shook it away.

"I'm sorry. I just promised Vergil a little while ago to stay happy."

His emotions, a barely recognized puddle he'd never allowed to strength to begin with, dried up, and he stood up again.

"I understand. Just let me get my weapons and we can get going."

She smiled, and helped him up.

The hole was still there, so they had to be careful that they didn't fall down into it.

It would be rather unfortunate if they had survived all of this just to stumble and fall into lava.

However, Diva's size was misleading in terms of her strength, and the girl easily hopped the both of them over it.

Nero already felt his strength returning and, despite requiring a bit of effort, knelt down and picked up one hook-sword, then the other.

"Okay, let's get going." He spoke while jumping over the gap again and then looking behind him, seeing Diva simply standing in front of the hole looking at him with a smile.

The man sighed and then, despite there was no need to do so, offered out one of his hands to her to "help" the girl across the gap.

Her smiled widened and she took the hand and once again hopped over the opening with little effort.

As she did so, though, they both noticed the distinguished sounds of footsteps approaching them.

While they drew nearer it was obvious the people coming down the hall were running.

He faced towards the door that both of them had come through, and thanks to the long straight hall that led to it, was soon able to see shadows coming towards the corner, far off in the distance.

"They're too slow to be Kuroihando or Shiroihando. It must be one of the weaker Nanbas." He thought to himself while waiting for the shadows to materialize into people.

Surprisingly, it wasn't a _person _that was the first sign of people coming, but rather, a crimson explosion that melted its way through the corner as a person in a red coat ran barely dodged it.

He could be heard saying something like "lighten up" as another figure that was too small to see behind him gave chase.

The man had silver hair and seemed to be running for his life as the person behind him chased after the strange man.

He tripped on his own feet, unintentionally avoiding another attack that flew right over him and glided down the hall towards Diva and him.

"Hey, that's coming towards us." Diva stated to him, professing the obvious.

The girl yanked him out of the way, despite the fact he could have blocked the attack, and it slammed into the welded area behind them, ironically dissolving the only barrier that had impeded their progress.

Nero looked back at the now un-blocked door that had saved itself from the blast before looking forward again and seeing that the red-clad man, Dante, had taken shelter behind one of the corners of the room in front of them, taking deep breaths.

As the figure he recognized as Saya ran down the long hall in front of them, weapon brandished, she swung another on of those crimson attacks at the corner Dante was cowering behind, dissolving the cover.

"How can you just say something like that?! A _twelve-year-old_?! This is what you get for opening that big pizza hole of yours!" She yelled.

Dante's panicked expression vanished as he dove in front of the opening to the room, tripping Saya as she ran into it and causing her to fall on her face while her weapon went spinning all the way through the room and into the wall not three inches from Nero's face.

There was an awkward silence following this, as Saya lay face-down on the ground.

Then Dante spoke up.

"You should get a belt. Your pants are falling down." He stated.

Not a moment later she began trembling in anger and burst up from the ground and chased after him, ignoring her weapon, which was far out of reach.

She chased him around the room and Nero felt his expression akin to that of a stupor.

"Are they always like this?" He asked Diva, who seemed on the verge of giggling.

"Well, Dante got sick one time, but other than that they like to mess around a lot."

He watched the scene in front of him with an almost cat-like curiosity until Saya eventually caught a fatigued Dante, pulling at his cheeks and yelling at him as a result.

That was… until she spotted Diva, and the whole comedic scene vanished as she let go of Dante's head and ran towards the waiting pair with a somewhat reckless sprint.

"Diva!" She yelled while running into the room, seeming blind to everything else but her as the girl made her way through the room and pulled the girl's head to her chest, hugging her.

"I'm so glad you're okay!" She spoke, seeming to be out of breath more emotionally than physically.

After a few moments Diva's arms came up and hugged Saya as well and the siblings stood there in a sisterly embrace as Dante, now with a more serious grin walked into the room.

"Hey there." He spoke over to Nero, who managed to force his gaze from the loving scene in front of them.

"You're alive." Was his response, and Dante chuckled as he approached them all.

"You sound like someone I know." He stated, seeming to hold back a named mention for Diva's sake.

Nero didn't know why, but she seemed to have very deep feelings for the half-demon that everyone called "Vergil".

The twins didn't show any signs of letting go of each other, and in fact hugged each other _tighter_.

It lasted so long Nero was actually tempted to speak up.

"Did you kill any enemies on the way here?" He asked Dante, his only attempt at conversation.

"Altogether, seven of them. The three from last time in that pit, a fat man, some uber-nerd, a brat with a big-ass axe and some other guy that Saya fought. You?"

He was surprised they had managed that much.

"Yes. Mizu, a man that could control water, Invidia, a person who could copy any weapon he saw and another man named Incendio who could control fire to a degree."

Dante exhaled, as if relieved he and Saya had killed more than Diva and he.

"Awesome, then that only leaves seven of 'em left."

Nero gave him a quick, cold stare, forcing him to wave at the man.

"Just kidding. Lighten up. _Six_ people left."

He looked away from him, towards the door in front of the two.

"Actually, only five." Nero spoke, thinking about Bianco.

"What do ya mean? Someone choke on a pretzel or something?"

The momentarily irritated man shook his head.

"No. My brother, Bianco, won't be fighting against us, and he's the second strongest Novertos. Technically, the only people left to fight are Nanbas."

The hot air seemed to be sucked out of the room.

"Except for Ritorno… right?" The normally slightly-goofy half-demon asked him with a almost cryptically serious tone, the sisters now audibly parting at the mention of the enemy they all wanted to kill.

"Yes."

Diva stepped up beside him, staring straight ahead.

"Let's go." She told him.

He looked down at her, seeing the determination in her usually care-free eyes.

"…yes."

* * *

Heheh. I bet a few of you thought this was the chapter Vergil just comes back to life out of the blue and saves Diva. WRONG. Mwahaha! And thanks for the reviews they keep this story goin' ha.


	52. Two on two

I know it was another short chapter, but I'll try to update soon. It's strange how quickly Nero seems to be filling the role of Vergil in this story. Both in his way of doing things and his distaste for Dante.

* * *

They opened the door and immediately noticed a strange thing; the room was almost completely pitch-black.

Except for the small amount of soft red light that came from the room they were in now, and the even _smaller _traces of _white _light from the room _behind_ them, it was absolutely impossible for, at the very least, Nero to see.

He looked from left to right anyway, just to make sure nothing was leaping out of the darkness at them-

"Looks like someone forgot to put in some new light bulbs." The now-loose and laid-back half-demon said from behind him.

Nero really hoped this man would have to fight someone else in a different room from him, because he found him rather frustrating.

However, before he had enough time to properly build up his distaste of the man, light jolted on in the room. But it wasn't where you would expect.

Instead of a gigantic chandelier appearing in the middle of the room, bathing everything in elegant light, dozens of square panels in the floor lit up a bright, pure white light.

The panels were spaced two apart, and each new row of panels did not line up with the last, much like a bioluminescent chess board.

"Hey, I didn't sign on to be in a redo version of a Billy Jean music video." Came another remark behind him.

Nero inhaled through his nose and then exhaled through his mouth, concentrating on what they were trying to do instead of Dante's snide remarks, and stepped out onto one of the panels.

There was no real response as he did so. No boulder fell down onto his head, the room didn't begin to tremble, and no one cackled out maniacally.

The others followed him, as there was enough light coming from the panels in the floor for them to spot an enemy if someone jumped out from the shadows.

But as Dante, the last person to enter the room, closed the door with a loud slam, the rest of the room lit up and metal bars could be heard sliding into the door; locking the exit securely.

He glanced over his shoulder at the man, who simply shrugged, before looking forward and spotting several figures across the large room.

Nero had been completely accurate when he likened the lights in the floor to a chess-board; black, ebony panels accompanied the glowing white ones and at the other end of the room lied many broken pieces that looked to be gigantic pawns, rooks, bishops and knights.

A shattered king and queen, however, were _not _present, and instead two people, standing in their respective squares in the middle of the room, looked up from two small thrones.

"Well, dear, it seems the rats have finally arrived." Came a fair yet arrogant voice from the queen who sat in her silver throne, her long, gorgeous dress and ornate hairstyle speaking as much about her position as her tone did her character.

Beside her, in a gold throne, sat a man with a finely-kept beard, a deep red robe and multiple expensive rings on each of his fingers.

The clothes, shoes, appearances and general "air" of the couple left no question about who they were.

"It appears so. Welcome, my chaotic and lowly guests." Spoke the deep, proud voice of the "king".

Nero wasn't intimidated in the least.

He was weakened, and had been damaged rather severely in the last battle, but these two, arrogant though they were, didn't inspire even a twinge of fear in him.

"Move out of the way. We don't have the time to deal with the likes of you." Nero told them, not stopping in his slow stride and hearing everyone else behind him doing the same.

The two seemed taken aback, but quickly regained composure.

"How typical; vagrants acting as if they rule the world." The queen retorted.

He was unaware which academy these two had gone to, but considering this was no renaissance fair their language and attitude seemed rather absurd.

"What'd ya say about yourselves?" Dante spoke back to them, causing the queen to give a huff.

Nero heard Dante's pace quicken and soon felt the man behind him.

"Nero, these two, are they strong?" He asked.

His eyes glanced back at the man for a moment, and then slid to face forward, towards the elaborate door that stood closed several feet behind the duo.

"Not any stronger than you or Saya."

Dante gave a quick chuckle in response as the sisters gathered what the two men were discussing and held hands for a moment before separating, followed shortly by the males, Nero going with Diva and Saya going with Dante.

The two groups ran towards the king and queen, who stood, looking at them with condescending gazes as they approached.

Dante and Saya flew past Nero and Diva and both manifested their weapons as they neared their enemies.

The one of each their hands radiated a light that extended to a certain length as their own weapons were summoned.

Simultaneously, a "spike" of air bolted through the air from the queen as a wave of bright green energy hurled itself from the king's sword.

Saya and Dante both sent their own attacks to collide with the ones sent by the "rulers" and the ensuing collision temporarily light up the room with enough light to blind you for a moment.

That's when the other duo made their move.

Nero and Diva leapt over both the heads of their allies and their enemies to land directly in front of the door that they had been after.

The moment that it took the king and queen to notice this gave Dante and Saya the opportunity to attack them with their swords, forcing them to avoid their attacks and allow the group to rejoin near the door; Dante and Saya guarding the other two.

"We've got this, you two go on ahead." The silver-haired man told them.

Nero nodded and pulled on the large handle to open the door.

Diva began to head through the door when Saya called after her.

"Diva… be safe."

Her little sister smiled back at her, and then hurried through the door.

As Nero began to step forward as well she called after _him_.

"Nero… if you let her get hurt, I'll kill you."

The knowledge that she would lose shot through his mind but he kept that silent.

"Understood."


	53. Power of a king

Sorry, Kim (), I forgot to respon to your review last time. And yes, I _do _come up with the metaphors and similes off the top of my head... what's the second mean again? ha

* * *

"Now then, we can get down to business." Dante told his cheeky enemies as he kicked the door closed behind Nero.

Saya got closer to him.

"So, should we fight anyone or choose a person?" She inquired quietly, despite the fact their enemies could probably hear them.

The queen's weapon, a sort of elegant gauntlet with a long, double-edged blade sticking out of it, looked kind of nasty but her powers so far didn't seem very intimidating.

Meanwhile, the king's fairly moderately-sized claymore didn't really stand out, unless you were talking about fancy-ass guards and expensive materials and the like.

In any case, Dante was pretty sure they were pushovers who just had a bunch of crappy people below them to make themselves feel better.

"Eh, you take the king guy and I'll take queenie. He's got splash attacks and so do you so it'll be… you know… more even."

She sighed, seeming to notice how he had no real logic in his plan, but nodded.

"Okay. Good luck."

Dante smirked.

"Hey, when you're _this _good, you don't _need _luck."

She shook her head at him as their enemies seemed to lose their patience.

"Well, well. It looks like two of the rats ran off and left the other ones behind. How predictable." The queen remarked airily.

He snorted.

"If that's the case, why didn't you stop us when we did it your stinky majesty?"

She seemed taken aback by his response, but the king seemed slightly more in control.

"We don't have the time to deal with the likes of you. But at the very least you deserve to know the names of the ones who killed you. I am Nanba-juugo; Kingu."

"And _I _am Nanba-juuroku; Kisaki." The queen spoke as if she hadn't just gotten totally owned.

Dante blinked, feigning confusion.

"If the people who're gonna die are supposed to know who killed them… then why are _you _introducing _yourselves _to _us_?"

The two remained silent.

"I'm Dante. And this is Saya. And we're going to take those weapons and shove 'em up yer-"

"I think they get your point, Dante." Saya spoke.

It only took a moment for the queen to give a short laugh at him and throw a strand of hair over her shoulder with flair.

"Think whatever you want you dirty worm. We'll see who's going to die at the end of this fight."

"Precisely." Kingu concurred.

Then he swung the claymore, once again creating a wave of green energy that flowed up from the ground and then crashed down towards Dante and Saya.

They both rolled out of the way of the attack, but as Saya's shoulder rolled onto the ground he spotted Kisaki heading towards her.

"Hey! Watch out!" He yelled.

Saya seemed to catch his warning and brought her sword up just in time to block the sharp tip of Kisaki's weapon with the flat side of her own.

"Commendable!" The woman spoke, the first non-insulting thing she'd said since they entered the room.

"But what can you do about _this_? Ouritsukugi(Royal nail)." Kisaki said before Saya's sword seemed to be "shot" away by thin air.

The woman chased after her, but before Dante could head over to help his black-haired friend a sword came swinging down at him, forcing the man to block with Gemonia to stop the attack.

Their swords clashed and he scowled as the two fought for control.

"Don't get sidetracked, now. Those two are fighting _their _battle, so _let's _fight _ours_."

His scowl vanished, replaced by a grin as energy momentarily charged at the end of Gemonia's barrel.

"Sure thing."

Then the Lamigarda fired, giving his sword an extra punch while sending a very unpleasant present over to the queen who was still attacking Saya, forcing her to back off long enough to give the girl a break.

She shouted her thanks as the older woman scoffed while he was now pushing forward towards the king's throat, the man now bent back slightly.

"Looks to _me _like _our _battle is pretty much _over_!" Dante spoke with a lot of energy, despite the fact he was out of breath from pushing so hard.

Though Kingu's brow was covered in sweat, he managed a look of anger.

"You simpleton. Don't think you're the only one with some tricks! Roiyarusougishiki (Royal strike command)!"

A moment later the same green energy flowed through the air and splashed down towards Dante, making him break the clash and back off.

"Damnit." He spoke under his breath, pissed off that he'd had to give up the struggle for a moment.

Then he stopped caring.

"Doesn't matter. I'll just kick his ass now-"

"Don't be so conceited! Do you think that just because all of our _underlings _were weaklings that _we _are _too_?! You foolish boy!"

His brow furrowed as Kingu swung his sword down, another energy wave splashing its way towards him and making the silver-haired half-demon back off once again, this time with his back to the wall.

"I'm the _king_! And kings are _never _weak! Rule! Oujayaiba(Monarch sword)!"

As he declared the sword's name, the same green energy exploded out from beneath the man's feet, dissolving the ebony around him and staining the ground green.

"If you'd like to see the _strength _of a _king_… then I'd be happy to oblige you."


	54. The Devil and the Diva

Avarenda, I know what you're saying, but this story _is _primarily action.

Not to mention I didn't know how long it would take to get the fighting over with and once the storyline had established itself I couldn't(well wouldn't) just decrease the number of people to fight, since the number of people is part of the main plot.

I know the constant fighting has probably gotten old, but I would've felt really bad if I'd just said, these guys are somehow not going to be able to fight them. I'm not saying that's what you're trying to say I just mean that I'd rather have perhaps too much fighting more than make it seem like these guys just don't show up because I'm too lazy.

I hope this chapter will give you something to look at though. I made sure to give you(and everyone else who's reading it) a break from the chopping and hacking. And I thought this chapter was very special, because of what it is about. It's probably the first chapter I've written in a while that I really got involved in on a deeper level.

* * *

"These guys sure have strange tastes." Diva commented on the room they were in now.

It looked like… a warehouse.

What kind of ultimate-ruler-person-man stayed in a _warehouse_?

Diva had never been one to judge people on anything, really. Since she'd never really cared how other people did things. But it still seemed strange to her.

The warehouse was rather small, considering its appearance, and while it had a very high ceiling like most of them do, the room itself couldn't have been any bigger than fifty feet wide and long.

And separating the sides of the warehouse from the main area on either side were large metal containers that stretched all the way up to the ceiling, blocking out the spotlights that illuminated the rest of the room.

Across from them was a metal shutter that slid open to… wherever it led to. But this entire _place _was _boring_!

She gave a quick, light-hearted sigh.

"How many people do we have left to fight now?"

Nero glanced down at her.

"Why?"

"I don't know it's getting… boring, I guess."

One of his eyebrows rose up.

"You find life-or-death struggles 'boring'?"

She shrugged.

"Well, not _all _the time but how many people have we fought by now?"

He thought for a few moments.

"I suppose you have a point."

Diva nodded and looked around.

"Maybe we got lucky and they killed themselves like that Stalin guy at the end of that second big war."

"You mean Hitler?"

"Yeah him." She responded, obviously not caring she'd gotten the wrong person.

Nero took a few steps forward, past her.

"Well, if you don't like how many people we've had to and will _continue _to fight I suppose you could always take it up with Ritorno once we get there."

She bit a side of her lip in contemplation.

"Never mind. I'll be too busy cutting him up to complain."

A strange silence followed.

"…But isn't fighting what you were _just _complaining about?" He asked, turning to her.

Diva looked at him with a strange expression; she was smiling, but looked like she'd gotten tired of him.

"Stop talking now."

He looked away and started walking towards the shutter.

"Fine, then. Let's just get going."

As his steps echoed across the metal walls of the building, however, something violently shot upwards toward the ceiling, almost signifying the beginning of another-

It was Diva's hand.

"Excuse me! Excuse me!" She spoke like a small child in class.

"I'm tired!"

His steps ceased and the man turned around, looking at her with the largest expression of surprise he'd shown since she managed to hurt him back in the coliseum.

"What is your point?"

The girl's hand came down and her head tilted a bit.

"My _point _is, I'm _tired _and I want to take a _rest_."

He gave a sigh reminiscent of a dog's.

"Dante and Saya are fighting in the next room, how are you going to be able to just 'rest'?"

Her head straightened and her smile widened, the girl now standing next to one of the large metal containers.

"Like _this_." She spoke matter-of-factly while sitting down and placing her back up against the container.

Nero gave yet another sigh, prompting the girl to pat the area next to her like a person trying to get a pet to come over to them.

"Come on. You've _got _to be at least a _little _tired by _now_."

His eyes flashed just a hint of surprise, but he calmly walked over next to her and sat down as well, though his back was straight and he sat up as if he were a military officer; stern and immovable.

Diva found it amusing, and closed her eyes.

"So, what are you going to do after this?" She asked him.

She couldn't see his reaction to the question since her eyes were closed.

"It will depend on whether or not I survive."

"What do you mean?"

"If I survive, I suppose I'll think about what to do next. If I die, I'll decompose."

She let her relaxed expression show some humor for a moment.

"You sound like someone else I know."

"The man you always speak of? Vergil?"

An uncomfortable silence followed afterwards as she opened her eyes once again.

"Yes."

"I miss him." She added.

Nero shifted against the boxes.

"You're sure he died?"

Her eyes looked down at the ground in response to the question before she could form an answer.

"We found a man with white hair and wearing blue- he always wore blue- lying dead on the ground with his sword in his hands."

"Did he have the same face?"

Diva swallowed and closed her eyes again, bringing her legs in as a result of the uncomfortable question.

"His whole body had been dried up too badly, like the life had been sucked right out of him." She spoke, her voice tinged with shakiness.

Nero, despite seeming even more insensitive towards people than she or Vergil used to be, even waited a few moments before speaking again.

It made the room seem even colder than it was.

"You blame yourself for what happened to him, don't you?"

Her arms came around her legs and pulled them in further, tightening around them.

"Yes."

"Why?"

Diva's eyes opened, partially out of emotion and another part out of a strange kind of confusion towards the question.

"I let him go out alone, even though I felt like something bad was going to happen to him."

"That doesn't mean it's your fault that he died."

She looked over at him, slightly irritated now.

"I _let _him _die_." Diva repeated, her voice displaying her irritation.

Nero's eyes gazed back at her, not showing any emotion in them.

"You didn't stay behind knowing he would be killed, so you did not kill him."

"No-"

"If you had known that he would be in a situation where he could have died, would you have gone?"

She forgot about how he'd interrupted her to think about it for a split second.

"Of course not."

"And even if you _had _gone with him, I'm sure you know that you would have just been killed along _with _him."

Diva didn't say anything, but felt herself getting more flustered.

"Mizu, Incendio and Shiroihando, the strongest of the Nanbas, all went after him. And then after they had been fighting him, and _winning_, he had to face Ritorno, who could have killed every single one of us on his own. And you think that your having gone there would have changed anything?"

She was looking down at the ground again.

"No."

"Then why do you hold yourself responsible for his death?"

"Because-" She suddenly yelled out, tired of this man speaking as if he knew her. Let _alone Vergil_.

But the sentence wasn't being completed. and she couldn't say why.

As the seconds dragged on and her mind was incapable of producing an answer, she thought about it, and realized she didn't _know _why."

Her head fell down between her knees, defeated.

Once again Nero waited a few moments before speaking.

"I'm not trying to make you confused. I just want you to realize that it _wasn't _you that caused him to be killed. That's all."

However, she didn't hear him anymore. The girl's mind had drifted.

* * *

"_My head feels like a demon's horn." He remarked in his head, thinking about how he'd gotten so congested in a single night._

_Vergil hadn't felt strange the night before or anything, and didn't remember being in contact with anyone who had been sick, so he couldn't understand why this had happened._

_His room seemed… colder for some reason, and the walls seemed duller._

_It was an overcast day outside, but it looked like rain clouds would overtake the sky before the day was finished._

"_How ridiculous; a son of Sparda getting a common cold." He remarked, sniffling._

"_What was that?" He heard a voice tease him from the window-sill. The half-demon not even bothering to look over towards it, since he already knew who it was._

"_Don't you have anything better to do than hopping over to my room to pester me?" He asked the girl as she stepped down onto the floor._

_Her head tilted as she approached his bed._

"_Maybe." She spoke, signifying her "non-caring-ness" a term he'd actually created specifically to describe the way she responded to most things._

_The girl crawled onto the bed, approaching the sick half-demon._

"_Did you say you're cold?" She asked him._

_It was thankful that the girl hadn't heard him correctly, otherwise she probably would have teased him about it all day long._

_Diva tried to lay down next to him, but, despite feeling as if he didn't have enough energy to do so, Vergil forced himself up out of the bed and walked over to his dresser, pulling out a few shirts at one time, despite the fact he'd only tried to grab one._

_The young man pulled one sleeve of the shirt on, but struggled with the second one, missing once, and then twice._

_It was tempting to just tear the garment off and throw it on the floor and kill the thing, but he restrained himself long enough to get the other sleeve on, if only so the girl wouldn't have one more thing to bother him about._

_However, buttoning up his shirt when his eyes felt watery was very difficult, and it took him a whole minute just to get the bottom one done._

"_Hey, what's up with you?" Diva asked him, actually losing her mischievous smile._

_He sniffled again, turning away from her while trying to button up the rest of his shirt._

"_Nothing. I'm just not awake yet is all."_

_Vergil knew it was a terrible answer. He'd gotten up whenever she came in and put a shirt on with no trouble before. In fact the days he _did _that likely outnumbered the days he _didn't_._

_Even Diva wouldn't just let that lack-worthy response slide._

"_Here. Let me help." She spoke getting off the bed and walking over to him._

"_I'm _fine_." He lied again, having managed to get two more buttons done by now._

_But that "winning streak" came to an end when she tried to turn him around._

"_Come on, now. Don't be so stubborn. Just let me-"_

"_No!" _

_He shoved her away, onto the bed, before he'd realized what he said _or _did._

_Diva hadn't gotten hurt in the least as she landed on the mattress, but when she looked up at him again it was if someone had told her she was going to die._

_He felt his heart punch his chest while forcing his head to look away from her and walk over to the door, almost tripping on his own feet as he did so._

_In the process Vergil had managed to get another button done, but he still had five left and not the time to stay in here doing them._

_Taking the risk that someone would be downstairs, he opened the door to his room and walked through the hall, not bothering to close the door behind him._

_His steps were uneven and he almost fell a few times, but Vergil was not about to just lie in bed all day just because of a little cold._

_By the time he'd finished walking down the stairs all but the top three buttons on his shirt were done and he figured that was enough, opening the door at the bottom of the stairs and walking through the hallway before coming out into the office portion of the building._

_Like always Saya and Haji were out on a couch doing something but he didn't feel like looking into it._

_It felt much colder down here than it usually did and he felt himself mumble about Dante and the thermostat as he walked over to the other, unoccupied couch._

"_Good morning, Vergil." Saya spoke, greeting him like usual._

_All he managed out was a somewhat slurred "hello" as he more _fell_ into the couch than _sat_ in it._

"_You sound sick, did you catch something?" She asked him as he gazed down at the floor._

"_I don't know." He responded, noticing someone else coming down the stairs in the back despite it was impossible to see it._

_They sat quietly as Diva revealed herself, walking out into the room._

_He continued staring at the floor, trying to think if they had any medicine around, not noticing as she stopped to look at his couch._

_After a few moments Vergil heard her walk over to Saya's couch and sit down next to her._

_Vergil pushed himself up, leaning back in the couch now and staring up at the ceiling as he sniffled once again._

_Diva leaned in against Saya, seeming to surprise the girl._

"_It's been a while since you sat over here with _us_, Diva." Saya spoke to her._

_She nodded back._

_He felt it get colder, but his forehead felt like a fireplace, making him inhale unevenly as sweat began to form on his brow._

"_Vergil, I think we have some Benadryl in the kitchen. That might help you a bit."_

_The sick young man inhaled once again, pushing himself forward._

"_I'll go get-"_

"_I can get it myself." Vergil interrupted the recently arrived girl, standing up and walking around the couch, despite the fact he had to use an arm as a balancer to do so._

_As he walked through the shop towards the back door, it looked like the thing was farther away than he remembered._

_He _did _finally make it to the kitchen, however, and pushed himself up against the doorway while looking around to see where the small bottle was._

_There were only a few cabinets in here, and those ones had plates and bowls in them. While the only drawer in the kitchen held cutlery, yet he saw no sign that the helpful medicine was in here. _

_His anger rose, as did his body temperature, which just made him _angrier_. _

_That's when he remembered that he'd taken the medicine upstairs the night before just in case something like this were to happen._

"_So that I wouldn't have to go all over the place to get it." He recalled in irony, turning around and seeing the girl in front of him once again._

"_What… do you want…now?" He asked, taking breaths._

_She looked worried, but didn't get the chance to say anything as he pushed past her and made his way up the stairs._

_On the tenth step or so his foot slid off the step and he fell forward, bashing his shin against the hard wooden steps and causing him to grunt in pain._

_He took a sharp intake of breath and then forced himself up the stairs, reaching the top as if it were a mountain._

_However, as he did so it felt like a jet stream was blasted into his forehead and he lost all muscle control, feeling his legs naturally allowing him to fall backwards._

_Vergil cursed out lout as his absence of energy allowed him to fall back down the stairs, falling into his name as someone yelled it out._

_He awoke again in his bed, underneath the covers and staring up at the ceiling._

"_What happened?" He thought while trying to get up._

"_Uh, uh. Stay down. You're not feeling good enough to get out of bed." A familiar voice told him._

_Vergil let himself fall back down into the bed and looked to his right, seeing Diva sitting in a chair._

_He stared at her for almost a full minute, not realizing it._

"_You caught me." He said, not feeling good enough to actually turn it into a question._

_She smiled._

"_Of course I did. You didn't think I would let you fall all the way down the stairs just because you were being mean to me did you?"_

_His mouth gave no response, but she stared into his eyes for a few moments before closing her own and widening her smile._

"_You silly, you left the medicine all the way up here. I was going to come up here and get it but…"_

_He endured the short "I told you so", mainly because he couldn't move._

_Diva opened her eyes and reached back onto the nightstand behind her chair, picking up a spoon and a small plastic bottle._

"_I wanted to wait until you woke up to give it to you."_

_Vergil tried to sit up as she unscrewed the cap on the bottle and put some of the medicine into the spoon, but was unable to do so._

_But she didn't seem the slightest bit upset and simply set the bottle down on the nightstand before moving over to him and reaching and arm around his back, pulling him up into a sitting position._

"_Ah." Diva spoke, a smidge of childish humor in her voice as she signaled for him to open his mouth._

_However, though he was weak and physically defenseless, his will hadn't declined and he refused to be treated like a child._

_She waited a few moments, long enough to see he was going to be stubborn and shook her head a bit._

"_Fine. Be that way." She spoke, still not sounding impatient as she turned away from him and setting the spoon on the nightstand._

_Afterwards she turned back towards him, smiling again._

_She grew closer, second by second, until they were face-to-face._

_When he didn't move away her smiled deepened and she leaned forward, placing her lips against his._

_Despite his sick state, he still felt his expression widen in surprise and his mouth opened slightly-_

_-enough for her to tilt his head back and force the foul-tasting medicine into his mouth._

_She continued the kiss until, due to the lack of an ability to breathe through his nose, he had to swallow the medicine to get her to back away._

"_Good boy. Now rest." Diva told him lovingly while helping him to lie down again._

_His initial anger lessened as he already felt the medicine just barely starting to work, and the unpleasant emotion was replaced with gratitude._

"_Thank you." He told her, seeming to surprise her, if only for a moment._

"_You're welcome."_

"_You're lucky to have suck a loving person like me by your side." She added, feigning narcissism._

_His sense of humor was never all that developed, however, and especially now, he found no amusement in it._

"_Right. I bet you're _loving _having me weak and at your mercy." He responded, his tone sounding colder than he'd intended._

_Her smile disappeared and she looked down at the floor, causing him to look over at her again._

"_You… dummy. That isn't it at _all_."_

_Vergil said nothing as she began to look at him again._

"_I like having you like this because now I can take _care _of you."_

_His eyes narrowed as he realized how serious this was to her, and also realized how bad he felt for degrading her._

"_You never… let me do anything for you." She spoke, her tone filled with sadness._

"_Whenever you get hurt, you tell me not to try and make you feel better. When you're fighting, you never let me help you out so you don't get hurt. And whenever I try to do anything nice for you it's like you think I'm calling you weak."_

_He swallowed._

"_You never…"_

_She trailed off._

"_It's like we're in the same room, but you won't let me over onto your side. When _I _don't feel good I always let you take care of me, because it lets me show that I care about you. And it's nice that you take care of me. But what does it matter if you don't trust or care about me enough to let _me _take care of _you_?!"_

_Vergil looked away from her, his heart pounding in his chest._

_Diva stopped speaking, and he heard her starting to cry when he didn't respond._

"_Diva… I'm sorry."_

_He knew it made her feel better for him to say that, but it didn't stop her from crying._

"_But it's not that simple." He continued, seeming to draw her attention._

"_When you rely on someone all the time, it shows that you're weak. And that's part of why I don't usually let you help me. But there's more to it than that."_

_Vergil inhaled, as if it took more air to say these things than what he usually said._

"_If you constantly rely on someone else and open yourself to them, anyone who hates you or who is your enemy can see that they matter to you. More often than not, those people are the kind of trash that will attack and hurt the people you care about just to get to you."_

_He heard her crying lessen as he explained._

"_I would never forgive myself if you got hurt while trying to protect me."_

* * *

Her eyes opened and she stared out at the room in wide-eyed realization.

"He…_knew _that would happen."

Nero said nothing, only looked at her, seeing tat she understood what he wouldn't have been able to get her to understand.

"Vergil _knew _he was going to be hurt. He _knew _that he wouldn't be able to beat them. But he- he didn't want me to go with him because he didn't want _me _to get hurt."

It was now that he chose to speak.

"It was his way of showing how much he cared about you; to die alone, without you there to help him, so that you could live and not be harmed."

Her body trembled, as if she were being rained on by cold rain.

"You're…….so stupid!" She yelled at the room, actually making Nero move away from her.

"Stupid! Stupid! **Stupid**! You're so…"

Her tears fell down onto the floor, slapping against the cold concrete.

"How could you…just leave me?"

Diva pulled her arms and legs closer to her than they were supposed to go.

"How could he just decide that so easily? To die for me. As if it were like going out for a walk? I'm not… worth it…"

They stayed still and quiet for several minutes.

Then Nero spoke up.

"I thought you said you wanted to live long enough to see him again."

It took her several moments to respond.

"I _do_. It's just… now I'm going to _slap _him when I see him next time."


	55. SSStylish

"Did I just hear Diva scream?" Saya thought out loud, almost allowing herself to get stabbed by Kisaki.

Luckily she managed to parry the strike before it reached her and the "queen" flew on by.

However, she thrust a high-heeled foot out in front of her and managed to stop her travel, turning around as she rose.

"Best not allow your mind to stray from the fight… you don't have enough brain power to win to _begin_ with, it would be a shame if you were to die too quickly for me to gain some amusement."

She ignored the woman's words, thinking only about Diva.

"I told you to stay safe. Don't get hurt." She thought, bringing Ru-Kui-n out in front of her.

"Oh? What are you doing now?" Kisaki asked her, still sounding arrogant.

"I can't afford to waste my time anymore. I have to go see if Diva is alright. If you want to defeat me, you had better release your sword entirely."

One of the queen's eyebrows rose.

"Because I'm done holding back." She told the woman as the crystal flower at the base of her blade opened.

* * *

"Are you ready to go?" Nero asked her, standing now.

It took her a moment, but Diva nodded.

She pushed herself up and away from the metal container behind her, but as the two began to head for the metal shutter they heard someone clapping from high up, near the ceiling.

"Bravo! Bra_vo_! You're a genuine Hollywood actress aren't you?!" A joyous man shouted down happily from on top of one of the metal containers; high enough that the spotlights did not illuminate him.

Nero instantly manifested his hook swords and she wondered what is was that caused him to respond so significantly to this man.

To anyone else, the man's attitude certainly would have been unsettling, but to _Diva_, who used to act that way more or less all of the time, it seemed commonplace.

"Hey, who's Italian man?" She asked, referencing his use of "bravo". Despite the fact she had no idea if it was really Italian or not.

Nero didn't look at her as he responded.

"He-"

"Oh don't be so tense! I can introduce _myself _you know! I am Nanba-juusan, Kuroihando Migigawa!"

A second later something flashed down from the containers above and landed quietly on the concrete floor, sounding only as if he had hopped forward.

It was strange seeing a man mostly in black with spotlights behind him, but she didn't really care, and manifested her sword.

"You're the one who fought Vergil, aren't you?" She asked him.

The man, grinning, gave a mischievous "mhm".

"Good." She responded, smiling herself.

Then she leapt forward, making sure not to look him in the eye, and swept an Erebrise at him half the way there.

Kuroi spun out of the attack's way with a dance-like spin, but as he did so, she was already there, and swung her sword through the air.

"Oh great light! Strike this evil thing from the earth!" Someone shouted before she stepped into something bright and wet.

It only took a moment to hop backwards, but she _still _almost lost her feet as she jumped out of the way of large beam of light that struck up from the floor.

"Darn." She spoke under her breath, landing on the floor near Nero.

"Be careful. These two are the strongest members of our organization on the Nanba-side. They won't be the kind of fodder you're used to."

She glanced over at him.

"Stronger than that jerk with the water?"

Nero nodded.

Diva looked back at Kuroi and the man who had just emerged from the metal shutter.

"I am Nanba-juuni! Shiroihando Migigawa!" He shouted with the strength-of-voice of a fanatical preacher.

"I hope you've said your good-byes to that sister of yours. The likes of you won't last long in my light."

* * *

"Well isn't that cute?" Dante asked Kingu rhetorically as the waves of energy around him dispersed.

"I hope your attacks haven't just gotten _shinier_. 'Cause of if that's all you might as well lay your ass down in a coffin right now."

Kingu stared at him, a solemn expression on his face.

"Your insignificant words have no effect on me." He spoke, bringing his sword behind.

"However, I will cut your dirty body to pieces!" The man spoke with vigor as he sprang forward, a trail of bright green energy following his sword as it swept down through the ground and then up towards him, dragging a large wave of energy with.

"Oh crap-"

The wave hit him and he it singed his skin as he was slammed back into the wall, the front four inches of the hard material dissolving as the radioactive-looking "water" receded and disappeared, leaving Dante clothes and skin looking darken than usual.

It only took a few moments for his body to make his skin better again, but these clothes would take quite a while to do the same.

"Hey, asshole, you'd better be ready to pay for this thing to get mended if you melted away some of my coat!" He yelled before grinning.

Dante heard heavy rock music begin playing in his head and he aimed Gemonia at the man.

"Come on!" He yelled like a singer at a concert before firing off a Lamigarda.

The energy shot towards the man, who swept his sword up in its direction and covered the energy with a wave of green.

But Dante dove, slamming his shoulder into the hard floor and shooting a whole stream of energy "bullets" at him from the weapon shouting out how much fun he was having all the while.

Once again, the king swung his sword and sent a wave of energy towards Dante. But this time the wave was huge and threatened to turn into a tidal wave if it rose any higher.

His grin widened and Dante flipped up into a standing position, rapidly charging a Lamicanhao.

As the energy began to gather, the tidal wave of bright green energy came down towards him, making his heart slam against his chest in anticipation of the attack.

There wasn't enough time to charge, and the energy swept down onto him, crashing into the bottom of the wall and dissolving the floor into dull green ground.

However, Dante was nowhere to be found in that stain on the ground, and leapt out of the wave, skin burnt red as his coat, and fired the ultra-powerful attack at the man with a giant grin on his face.

Though Kingu tried to counter it with another quick wave of energy, it couldn't handle the full power of his attack and he had to haphazardly dive out of the way of it, dirtying his fancy-ass clothes in the process.

While his attack blasted through the floor, Dante landed on the ground, his coat swooping in behind him melodramatically, as his eyes fixed on the recovering man.

Dante kicked off the floor and ran at the man, holding Gemonia behind him like a baseball bat as its entire blade was encased in energy.

The man just got to his feet as he swung the weapon at him and hit his sword from his hands with a Batifogo(fire strike)

Kingu dove for his sword, landing hard on the ground and swung his sword up at Dante, once again unleashing a wave of energy at him.

Still, this trick was getting old and all it took for Dante to avoid the thing was to run away from it for a few seconds and then back towards the man, this time jumping over the energy wave like it was a huge puddle.

He landed on the other side and used Podorente(power current) to make Gemonia's attacks stronger.

The "king" seemed in a stupor over how fast he'd started losing and brought up his sword as Dante quickly made his way over to the man.

Their swords clashed in the air multiple times, green energy flowing from Kingu's sword and bright white light emanating from Dante's.

However, just like the remaining neon-white tiles outnumbered the ground that had been burnt green, Dante's own power quickly overcame Kingu's and he slammed his sword against the man as he brought his sword up to block, sounding out a cracking sound from his legs and creating a crater in the floor.

Kingu's teeth ground together and he eventually managed to force Dante and his shining sword away, though _he _was still grinning.

"What's the matter, man? Looks like you're getting impeached or something." He spoke as the glow faded from his weapon.

The man was breathing heavily and bent over, but wasn't dead yet.

He scowled at Dante and forced himself up.

"You…_filth_! You think you've _won_?! You're _crazy_!"

Kingu's eyes flared as energy burst forth from his blade and he his whole body trembled in anger.

"Don't do it." He warned the man, but he was too stupefied with rage to pay attention and ran towards him, energy trailing behind his blade.

Dante sighed as the idiot ran towards him as if he had to stay still and get chopped in half.

As appealing as that sounded, he thought he'd pass.

Kingu neared him and he stood there, not moving at all.

Then, when they were only ten feet away, he looked up.

"Get stylish, Dividinia(Separate blades)!" He yelled as the man ran towards him.

The moron had just about enough time to kiss his ass goodbye before Dante's two-handed grip became _two _single-handed grip as Gemonia split into two weapons.

"Gemefatia(twin slices)" he spoke, stepping forward and striking the blunt sides of both of his blades against the man's single one, sending it bolting away and imbedding itself in the wall near the door they'd come through.

Before Kingu even had enough time to gasp Dante announced another attack, this time Milhilia(Million family).

His weapons were a blur as he cut, stabbed and crushed Kingu's body into a barely-living bloody pulp before combining them together again and swinging the blunt side of the blade at the man's head, cracking his skull open and bashing him across the large room, into the wall by his sword.

The man made no more sound and he put Gemonia back under his coat.

A silence followed.

"Craaaazy?! Ha!"

* * *

In case anyone was wondering, the thing Dante says at the end is a taunt of his from Devil May Cry 3.... on a somewhat interesting note I'd beaten the game like fifty times before actually _discovering _it. ha. The name of the chapter is also a ranking on the "stylish meter", I think, in Devil May Cry 4.

Anyone who reviews this chapter please just tell me in addition to what you'd normally say if you'd like me to add some more "break" chapters. If anyone says they'd like that I'll try to make every other chapter a non-violent, story-driven one. Though the next chapter will probably have more action in it. At least at the very beginning.


	56. Black and White

"You guys aren't doing very well are you?" Ritorno asked the room, despite no one was in here.

The walls were pretty much sound-proof and battles were going on one and two rooms away, but he still knew what was going on.

Kingu, for some reason, had managed to instantly start losing and then get more or less killed.

Kisaki had a chance of killing Saya, but he doubted it.

Of course… after _them _there were the "right hand" brothers. And he doubted that either Nero or the little bat bitch could kill them.

Not that it really matter _anyway_ of course, since he could kill both sisters, Nero _and _Dante on his _own _if he _wanted _to.

But he didn't.

As enjoyable as it might be to beat to death the people that were around and closest to that man, they weren't worth it.

Considering how big this mansion was, he was rather surprised they'd gotten here so quickly, and managed to kill everyone on the way as well. But it still didn't make much difference.

He glanced back down the obsidian-colored hall, towards the very last room of the whole complex, his room.

While these "invaders" were busy fighting this guy and that girl, Ritorno had simply used his abilities to "teleport" himself throughout the areas, picking up the weapons of the defeated people.

One of them had actually been alive, the nerd, but he'd just crashed the pudgy man's head through his limited edition World of Warcraft monitor and taken the spear.

He only needed one more weapon, so it didn't really matter _who _lost; whether it be someone on his "side" or one of the other four.

Technically, it was possible to simply "shadow" himself over to the chess room, grab Kingu's sword and then just head back. But the man didn't seem to be _completely _dead quite yet.

He tapped a foot against the floor, feigning impatience.

"Let's see… if I had to choose… I'd want to fight that girl with the long hair. She didn't seem particularly challenging or anything, but it would be fun to beat her around a bit more, since he liked her so much."

Ritorno gazed down at the katzbalger sword he held in his left hand.

Its "figure 8" or "S" shaped guard was like a dulled gold, which contrasted with the strange, black-marble appearance of the long, straight blade.

The weapon was the most powerful of any of the ones anyone had ever manifested. Truth-be-told, he could have simply drawn all of his "subordinates" together and killed them and simply just used all of _their _weapons. But he'd been compelled to turn this into a game that made his enemies suffer.

"And now it's almost finished. This took an even shorter amount of time than I'd thought." He remarked, giving the shiny black walls a shifty grin despite the fact there still was no one in here.

"There _is _something I'm curious about though." Ritorno told the room.

"Where is Bianco?"

* * *

"This isn't good." Nero thought to himself seeing the two enemies in front of them, both looking as confident as ever.

Fighting one of them, even what at full strength, would have been difficult, but he _could _do it, and win.

_Now_, however, he was unsure. And with Diva not knowing the strange kinds of attacks they could perform it just posed that much _more _of a problem; their styles of fighting were perfect for dealing with someone who just comes after you.

It's not that Diva wasn't an able fighter, but her fighting style, though refined, was still quite straightforward once you knew her attacks.

He glanced from one to the other, not sure who it would be best to have Diva fight.

Kuroi was more of a close-quarters fighter, but he was a much more skilled warrior.

Meanwhile his elder brother, the strongest of the Nanbas, had quite a few sneaky attacks to catch someone off-guard with, but wasn't as good at physical fighting.

"Hey. Hey!" Diva whispered to him once, then again, louder.

"What is it?" He responded, not bothering to whisper since he knew their enemies could probably hear them _anyway_.

"Are you going to pick yours or not?"

He gave a mental sigh at her childish way of fighting.

Even when she _didn't _smile while fighting the girl still didn't seem to take it seriously.

"You fight Kuroi, I'll fight his brother."

She nodded, taking a step forward.

"Wait."

Diva stopped, not looking back but giving him enough time to speak.

"I'll be fine." She spoke when he didn't respond for a moment.

He swallowed, and then told her to take their fight on the other side of one of the containers.

The girl gave a quick giggle and then brought up her sword.

"Shall we?" She asked the maniacally-smiling man.

"But of course!" He responded as if they were royalty hundreds of years ago.

First Kuroi took a few steps to the left, still facing her, then he quickly backpedaled into the shadows on the other side of the containers, and she quickly followed.

"How disgusting." Shiroi spoke down to him, despite the fact the man was shorter than he was.

"How is that?" He responded.

The naturally grey-haired man looked at him with a look of angry disappointed, holding onto the large hard-case book that was the sealed form of his weapon.

"You were once a man who did what needed to be done to rid this world of filth like her, yet now you've sunk all the way down to her level."

"That may be it." He began emotionlessly, bringing his swords up in front of him.

"But then again, it may be the complete opposite; I may have risen _above _your level."

The man scowled at him and began to open the book.

However, Nero swung a black crescent through the air, purposefully making it hit the ceiling up above his enemy and raining chunks of steel down on him, as well as some pieces of rock from the ground that sat above the warehouse.

"Don't insult me so greatly by assuming you can kill me with something that looks like a dollar-store bible. If you want to defeat me and Ermetino you'll have to release your own weapon."

Shiroi was reluctant and he could see the man realizing with irritation that he had no other choice.

"Fine. Have it your way. I'll show you my power and beat you like a parent does an insubordinate child."

"Say what you want. Just do it."

His enemy scoffed, and then formed a grin on his face.

"As you wish. Judge this world, Amatsukougi(Heavenly justice)!" He yelled out as the book floated into the air, opened, and enveloped the area in light.

Behind both her and him, she saw the outside room flash to blindly bright light for a moment, and had to shield her eyes to avoid blinking.

Unfortunately, it gave Kuroi the opportunity to run forward and come at her, since his sunglasses allowed him to get by the light problem.

Still, all she had to do was poke Bleu Rein out in front of her to make him flip backwards to where he was before.

"Uh-uh-_uh_! It's rude to try and kill a lady when she's not prepared." She pretend-lectured him, waving a finger in the air as the light behind the two of them receded to a decent level, though it was still brighter than before.

It was just as well; she had a real hard time seeing over here, since the high containers blocked out pretty much all the light.

"My apologies, fair maiden. I'll make sure to be on my _best _behavior." He chirped back at her, causing her own smile to deepen.

"It's so nice to finally meet a man here who has some manners. Every _other _boy I've met either tried to kill me for no reason, took away my dress, set me on fire or made me cry."

"Awww. Wah, wah."

Her smile lessened.

"_That's _not very nice."

He laughed.

"Once again, I'm sorry. I should have known better."

Diva nodded.

"Yes. You _should _have."

"Well, then. Allow me to start acting _very _seriously." He spoke, his tone stealing away any belief one could gain from the statement.

One of his arms was across his chest, while the other stretched out through the air as he bowed.

"Let's get started. Pull them into the shade; Nagaikage(Long Shadow)."

* * *

I'm glad you both liked the break. And Avarenda, yeah, I know what you mean. Sorry, by breaks I just meant times where it wasn't just fighting. Dante and Saya aren't going to blow off their battle and just go have a picnic.

Sorry the chapter title was kind of dumb. It was just pretty much a match-up of "light against dark" So... you know... black...and...white- nevermind.

There's also a special surprise coming up that may or may not be welcomed. Is Diva going to trip and knock a tooth out? Is Dante going to be a total pervert and goose Saya? Is Nero going to develop a _real _sense of humor? Is Vergil going to come back? Perhaps Dante will just blow up the whole world and be done with it or....nevermind I'll save the surprise for a surprise. heh.


	57. Big bang

"Your friend may have defeated Kingu, but that doesn't mean _your _life is _saved_." Kisaki told her, pushing the girl off-balance in their clash.

She struggled to maintain control, but quickly realized that she wasn't strong enough to keep from losing the clashing of swords.

So, as a result, she allowed falling to come naturally, and pushed her foot against Kisaki's stomach to make the woman fall over her as she rolled around on her back, the "queen" landing several feet away in a much less elegant heap.

Saya instantly pushed herself around and up to face her enemy.

Though she had originally intended to use the blood-sucking abilities of Nibarakuba(Red thorn curse) to drain the blood of their two enemies, she had soon decided it would be safer to not use the "red light" since it might also weaken _Dante_.

"I have no choice. I have to use the other ability." She thought, bringing Ru-Kui-n out in front of her, aiming it straight up at the ceiling.

"Shukokoro(bleeding heart)!" She spoke, immediately feeling her blood drained from her the second she spoke the word.

Kisaki, now standing, seemed confused with what she'd done.

"What is _that _supposed to do?"

But she didn't have enough time to answer the woman. Saya had to defeat her while she still had the strength to do so.

She leapt forward and brandished her sword.

The queen aimed her Pata; a gauntlet weapon with a blade thrusting out of it, at Saya as she approached.

A "spike" of air leapt out from the blade and shot towards her, but she was much stronger _and _faster right now, and simply moved around the spike, cutting the small thing in half with her sword in the process of swiping it at her enemy, who was forced to block haphazardly.

A bead of sweat ran down Kisaki's brow as she struggled to keep from being pushed off her feet.

"How did you get so strong?! Is it that ability you-"

"I don't have time to talk. I'm sorry."

With that she used a Chiwangetsu at point blank range, the force of the attack hurtling the two apart and splashing on to Kisaki's dress, as well as a single drop that fell onto Saya's cheek.

She gnashed her teeth together as her eyes widened a moment in pain, but didn't do anything more than squint until the drop disintegrated and allowed her body to heal the burn.

Saya twist herself around until she and her sword were facing completely away from Kisaki, and then the girl spun herself around and unleashed a massive barrage of tiny crimson crystals at her enemy, whose eyes widened as she realized the amount of ground it covered was too large for her to escape from.

The rest, Saya could not see, as her legs failed her and allowed the girl to fall forwards into the floor.

It was strange, for a moment she thanked her lucky stars that the panel she'd fallen on was not a blaring white one.

She heard the queen scream in agony as some of the crystals made contact and began to burn into her body, but didn't have the strength to maintain the attack and soon felt all of the "blood" she'd sent from her body dissolve into nothingness.

However, once the sizzling ceased she heard someone in high heels walking, though with a limp, towards her.

Saya struggled to push herself up from the floor, but she was kicked in the chest by what felt like a square spike and smacked backwards into the floor, banging her head on the hard ground.

Kisaki was burnt, her dress was shriveled and she looked like an exiled female monarch, but the woman still held her weapon in one hand.

"You excrement! I am _not _going to lose to you!" She declared while rearing back.

But her attack was cut short.

Saya heard the door they'd entered the room from open, saw a man in white to the side of her, and then heard the woman being thrown back over to her king all in a span of two seconds.

She was stunned in disbelief so long she hadn't noticed that the man in white had disappeared and that Dante had come over to see how she was doing.

"Hey, you all right?" He asked.

The girl was unable to respond, and felt her eyes growing drier by the moment as she stared on without blinking.

"Hey, are you paralyzed or something? 'Cause I brought a video-camera with me and there's prob'ly a cushy bed around here somewhere."

She blank.

"What?! How could you even _think _such a thing?!" Saya yelled at him, eliciting a grin from the man.

"Cool. You're okay."

Despite the fact she knew Dante had simply said that to get a reaction from her she still refused to stare at the man as she forced herself up, her body already having recovered from the blood-loss during her stupor.

"What happened?" She asked him, staring across the long room at the king and queen who both lay emotionless on the floor all the way near where their group had come in.

"Couldn't tell ya. I guess I _did _hear the door open, then it looked like a guy was near you, then… pow; queenie's lying across the room with birds tweeting around her head."

"Do you think she's still alive?" Saya asked him, looking at the two people who had claimed to be "royalty" and now lie unconscious, beaten and filthy.

He shrugged.

"Don't know. Why?"

Saya shook her head.

"No reason, I guess. I just don't want to kill people if I don't have to."

"Ya _didn't _kill her. You didn't _beat _her _either_. So don't worry about it."

She scowled at him, widening the man's grin.

The scowl disappeared.

"You're a really terrible jerk, you know that?"

"Yep. That's what the chicks _crave_."

She rolled her eyes and they started for the fancy-looking closed door.

"I wonder where that man went. Or who he _was_ for _that _matter."

Dante shrugged once again.

"Maybe it was that guy Nero was talking about. His brother."

"Oh, right. What was his name?"

They both came to a halt and gave each other glances.

"Uh… I forgot."

"You _forgot_? Well what will we do if that _is _him and we have to introduce ourselves?!"

"Hey, shut up. _You _don't remember _either._"

"Don't _tell _me to shut up! You're so _rude_!"

Dante looked her in the eyes, leaned towards her and smacked his lips together making a "Mwah!" sound.

Shivers ran down her spine and she got Goosebumps at the strange sort of flirt-dash-mocking gesture.

"Not to mention lecherous! Can't you go one minute without making some kind of adult-oriented reference?!"

"Whatsamatter? One-hundred-and-seventy-year-old can't handle a few naughty jokes?" He teased.

She didn't know if she was more disgusted with his comment or more surprised that he'd actually remember her general age.

"A _few_?! How many have you _made _since we _came _here?!"

He waved her off and started towards the door again.

As he did, however, they both heard grunting come from behind them and Saya glanced over towards the open doorway at the back of the room, and the two moving figures on either side of it.

"They're alive, and moving." She said to Dante, wishing they would have stayed unconscious.

She really wanted to ignore them and just keep going, but if they attack again she and Dante would have to kill them.

Saya touched the red rose in her pocket, but felt a hand on her shoulder as Dante walked past her.

"Don't worry about this. I've got it covered.

"Wait, Dante, we can't just-"

"They're going to try and kill us. If it's us or them, I'll make it them. You don't have to hurt them anymore so don't worry about it."

"But-"

"I _said _I've _got _it. Just look away for a minute."

Though reluctantly, she did so, gazing forward at the elaborate-looking door in front of her as she heard Dante pull Gemonia out from underneath his coat.

She expected him to say Lamicanhao and send a large blast towards the two recovering enemies but, to her surprise, he _didn't_.

Instead the girl heard the air sizzling, and felt a slight breeze blowing into her face; the air being drawn towards Dante.

As it intensified she fought against curiosity and forced her head to look forward.

He spoke.

"Grestrondo(Big bang)."

And then the room erupted into light and sound and she lost herself for an undecipherable amount of time.

It was akin to trying to walk outside in the snow after emerging from your darkened house; the pure brightness was enough to make you bow your head, as if in humbleness.

Then the white haze from her eyes and her ears faded, and she turned around, seeing Dante and Gemonia aiming at a mile-long tunnel hundreds of feet in diameter.

All of the places they'd gone through were now nothing but empty space or stone, and it looked like a strange form of art as light from up above, both from the sky and from the mansion, beamed down into the tunnel in certain places where the "ceiling" had crumbled down.

She was in awe of the destructive power, despite the fact he had just killed two weakened people and she had always disliked destruction.

"Dante. That was-"

He turned towards her and put Gemonia under his coat, but kept his head slanted down and walked by her, not making eye contact.

"Come on. Let's go." The man spoke to her softly.

Saya placed a hand over her heart and thought about Diva.

"It's almost finished."


	58. The ally in white and the devil in black

Haha. The first thing dgraymanxxx says in the review; "Bring Vergil back!" ha. And yeah, the updates were close together... because I'd thought I put one up the night before and hadn't. ha

I'm glad you've liked these two stories- ah, who am I kidding? You'd _have _to really like them to read what is now going to be, to my knowledge, the one-hundred-and-eighteenth chapter of the series. This story's starting to wind down, however, I wonder if it'll be longer or shorter than the last story...

Still several chapters left though so not to worry. heheh

(Alas, I've done "it" again; I thought I'd posted a chapter when I had, in fact, forgotten to.)

* * *

"What… the…"

"Awwww. What's the problem? Not feeling good?" The voice chirped happily.

"How…do you keep… doing that?"

A frown.

"You're half-dead,_ aren't_ you?"

"Be…quiet."

The man laughed maniacally.

"Oh well, if that's the best you can do I guess there's no point in waiting any longer."

Diva brought her sword up in front of her.

"How can he hit me when I block?" She wondered as the man walked towards her, raising his weapon.

It wasn't that every time she missed, or that he slid his weapon off of her blade. She _knew _that there was no way he could have attack her twice.

Yet here she was, getting cut _every _time he attacked her, whether she blocked or dodged.

He raised his weapon and swung it down at her.

She stepped to the side, avoiding the attack-

A blade cut along her left thigh, making her lose her balance as he reared around to attack her again.

This time she jumped through the air, blocking his attack before it could even descend-

And felt a blade cut through her _back_ before she landed, having to use her arms to balance herself as she did so.

She panted while pushing herself up, turning back towards him.

Kuroi was still facing away from her, not seeming intent on turning around.

However, just as she contemplated attacking him, his head snapped back over his shoulder and stuck his tongue out at her as he turned around as well.

She swallowed, trying to decide what to do.

Whenever she'd tried using Erebrise on him he just swung his weapon through the air and, despite there couldn't have been enough force behind that single strike, regardless of the weapon's size, created what was almost a wind-shield out of the air-pressure from his weapon.

He started towards her again and she took a step back.

Diva winced at having done so, but still couldn't force her foot to step forward again.

As the man and he cursed weapon came towards her he raised his weapon.

Her eyes narrowed as she came up with a plan.

Kuroi swung his weapon and she used Erisiparoi(Rose wall) while simultaneously hopping backwards, watching the shining blue wall with absolute concentration.

A blade cracked it-

And then another attack cut _through _it.

"The jerk. He can attack _twice_!" She thought while pushing a foot back behind her and using it to leap forward at the man.

As she did, though, he spun around and swung at her again.

Diva changed the trajectory of her approaching blade to coincide with where his would be, and blocked it.

But, as was to be expected, she felt another impact on her blade and was pushed off-balance and landed on her tail bone, Bleu Rein falling from her grip.

Kuroi reared back for another attack, and she scrambled for the hilt, swinging a haphazard slash at him as his attack descended.

"No good. He's going to-"

Both of their attacks stopped in mid-swing, blocked by a small metal cylinder.

She looked at it more closely.

Was that a _flashlight_?!

Suddenly someone jumped down from atop one of the containers, and observer that she hadn't noticed until just now, heading down towards the flashlight and where their weapons were locked.

Kuroihando stopped smirking for the first time since she'd met him and backed off as she fell backwards, exhausted from all of the injuries.

The new arrival caught the flashlight before it could hit the floor and tossed it up into the air, catching it. Then repeated the process as he began speaking.

"Well, isn't that so like you? Attacking someone while they're not even able to fight back. Do _all _psychopaths do that? Or just _you _Kuroi?" The man in white spoke.

Their enemy regained a grin and shrugged.

"Who knows? Do you want me to run around the world and collect a poll vote?"

"No. Not really. Just wondering." He remarked, catching the flashlight again but this time aiming it at Kuroi.

"Um…" She began, drawing the man's attention.

"Yes? What is it?"

Diva pointed at his "weapon".

"That's a _flashlight_."

He looked at the thing as if he'd never seen it before.

"Yes, I… I believe it _is_."

She blank.

"You're not going to fight him with a _flashlight_, are you?"

"My, and here I'd heard you were more open-minded. And you might actually be _surprised_ how useful a flashlight can be against a guy like this."

With that he turned the flashlight on, and the area in front of it seemed to start scorching.

Kuroi's shadow stood high against the wall as if he were a shadow puppet as the man leapt forward and attack her "savior".

He blocked once with the flashlight's end-cap.

"No good. He's going to get-"

And no other attack came.

Diva stared at them as the man in white allowed Kuroi's weapon to slide off the flashlight and then hit him with it like it were a club, knocking the man away.

"What's going on?" She asked, in disbelief.

Did she just have magical ability to make her fights _harder_?

"Kuroi can't attack twice in a row with that weapon. Look at it. It's called a Nagamaki. It has a rather long handle, longer than a person's forearm, and an even longer blade than a katana. So of _course _he can't attack twice."

She felt herself getting a bit frustrated now.

"Then how _did _he attack twice?"

As the man kept the light shining on their enemy, his shadow still blazing against the back wall, he answered.

"_He _only attacks _once_. But his _shadow _attacks _afterwards_. _That's _why whenever he attacked you it seemed like there were two strikes instead of one. But now that his shadow's stuck up _there_ he can't _do _that."

Diva waited a few moments.

"You're Nero's brother aren't you?"

The man chuckled.

"How did you guess?"

"No one else seems to love giving explanations as much as him. I guessed it ran in the family."

"You would be correct. I'm Bianco Sinistra. And, if you don't mind, I'll take over this fight."

Her eyes widened and the girl sprang up.

"But-"

"You've got someone _else _to fight, _don't _you?"

Her objection instantly ceased.

He was right. Now that there was someone else to fight this guy she could go to the next room while Nero kept that Shiroi guy busy.

"You're right. Thanks." She said while turning around and running around the containers.

On the other side of them, in the middle of the room, it was really bright, and she couldn't even gaze into the light just to see how Nero was doing.

Diva turned her attention to the metal shutter and bent down to open it.

"Don't think I'm going to just _allow _you to leave here!" The man's voice yelled at her and she felt something approaching her back.

As whatever attack came, however, she felt a shadow come over her and heard the attack get deflected.

"Damn you!"

Diva looked behind her and saw Nero standing in front of her, breathing heavily.

He'd been hurt… badly.

"Nero."

"Are you sure you want to fight him alone?" He asked her, not turning to face the girl.

She thought for a moment, knowing how strong he was.

"Yes. I'm going to do it for Vergil."

It was hard to tell, but she thought she saw his head lower slightly.

"I see… then go and kill him. Your 'white-haired' knight will be along shortly." He told her.

She could tell it must have stung him, now that the chevalier in him forced him to care about her, that she cared more about Vergil than him.

But he was willing to come and help her after this despite that.

"Nero…"

He said nothing.

"Thank you."

Then she lifted up the metal shutter and ran under it, letting the thing clang down behind herself, bent over and trying to take in a few well-needed breaths.

The sounds of her labored breathing, though, were soon not the only sounds in the long shiny hallway and clapping could be heard coming from the end of it.

"Braaavoooo. I bet you feel mighty happy with yourself right about now." She heard him taunt.

Despite the fact she wasn't physically ready to fight yet, she glared up at him.

Ritorno, her enemy- her _bane_, walked down the long shiny black hall towards her, smirking.

"Fighting all those people just to get here and kill me… I wasn't aware you despised me so much."

She spat on the ground.

A moment later he laughed as his clapping and footsteps both came to a halt.

"I _see_. It's a bit unfortunate, however."

Diva pushed herself up, ready for him.

"Because you're about to go see that dead demon-bastard of yours _very,** very** _soon."

Both her hands tightened into fists and she leapt down the hall, thrusting her weapon at the man and screaming as she did so.


	59. The two of light and the three of dark

"Well, now, are you ready to stop playing around?" Bianco asked the grinning man.

"Fighting isn't any fun if you aren't playing around at least a teeny little bit." He responded as the flashlight was turned off.

"But if you'll stop making shadow puppets at me and start _fighting _me… I might consider it."

Bianco felt himself grin as well.

"Accepted. Shine; "Fulmine(flash)." He spoke, the small flashlight expanding, becoming a Katar; A blade with an H-shaped guard that defended the forearm and a three-foot double-edged, wide thrusting blade.

Kuroi's grin became a smirk and he brought up his Naginata; Japanese weapon with a katana-esque blade and a two-foot long handle.

The two's weapons clashed, but as Bianco sense Kuroi's shadow approaching him the used the guard of his weapon to let his enemy's blade slide past him and blocked the second attack before moving past the man, thrusting along his chest while doing so.

However, Kuroi turned his body before it could be pierced, and instead of doing so Bianco's blade merely sliced a small line across his chest as the two men parted.

He immediately felt both of Kuroi's attacks coming at the same time and quickly spun around to block them with his own weapon.

Though it was difficult to see the shadow, since it was technically too dark for there to be one, it always followed the same path as his normal attack, so it was fairly easy to block.

Unfortunately, he wasn't as strong as Nero, and blocking what was essentially two double-handed strikes with a single, one handed weapon proved to almost immediately be too much for him, and Bianco thrust a leg out behind him to keep from toppling over.

"What's the matter? I thought you were going to "take care" of me so that little girl didn't have to fight." Kuroi taunted.

But his boasting was cut short as Bianco grinned once again and his Katar began shining brighter and brighter.

"You're about to regret not wearing sunglasses, boy." Then he closed his eyes and the entire space flashed with a brilliant light.

Needless to say, Kuroi wasn't able to keep the attack up when he was blinded and stumbled away.

By the time Bianco had reopened his eyes, the flash had already faded. However, despite him having clamped his eyes shut it had still been so bright that it hurt his eyes nonetheless.

His enemy was, well, holding his eyes in pain, so now he had a perfect chance to attack.

He approached the man, raising his Katar. As he did, Bianco felt himself getting slower, though, and looked down.

There was enough light to see that he was standing in Kuroi's shadow.

"Strange, I don't remember him being able to use his shadow in any other way." He thought.

When he realized his steps had ceased, Kuroi was already attacking him and Bianco just barely managed to block the otherwise-decapitating attack.

"Don't let your guard down just 'cause you think your enemy's incapacitated." Kuroi teased him, pulling away his "cover" hand to reveal perfectly normal, non-bloodshot eyes.

"This sword makes a _lovely _shade." He continued, momentarily holding the blade up in front of his eyes.

Then the sword tilted and the blade pointed at Bianco again, allowing Kuroi to look around it.

"You'd have been able to _tell _that if you hadn't closed your _peepers_. Though since your weapon is what _makes _the flash…"

He swung at Bianco, who managed to block both attacks with the Katar but was knocked back to the strength of the hits.

"I guess you can't do the same thing, can you?"

Breathing somewhat heavy for a few moments, he quickly returned his respiration to normal and took a step forward.

"Acute observation. But you can't make your shadow attack when Fulmine flashes."

The weapon began glowing again, and Bianco put a hand up in front of his eyes before using the attack.

The moment after the Scintillare(flash) ceased Bianco leapt forth and thrust out at his enemy who still held his blade in front of his eyes.

Even if he knew the attack was coming, Kuroi wouldn't be able block it, since he couldn't see where the attack was headed.

His blade speared through the air and struck Kuroi's chest in the middle where his heart was.

However, it didn't penetrate, despite the fact the flash was still receding and Kuroi hadn't lowered his weapon.

"'so you can beat me by making me blind myself with my sword hm?'" Kuroi asked him, stating what he himself had thought.

"Neat plan. But there's one problem."

The shadow blade pushed him away and Kuroi swung at Bianco, who blocked as he felt something move past him.

When he regained his footing Bianco glanced over his shoulder, at a much more "shadowy" version of Kuroihando.

"Who said anything about me making my shadow do _anything_?" The both asked him from either side, their weapons raised.

"I didn't know you had gotten so much weaker, Nero." Shiroi boasted towards him as the man stood up from his crouch.

Though they had only been fighting a few minutes he was on his last leg while the other man hadn't even been harmed yet.

"Thinking back on it, I wish I'd just killed him when I had the chance." Nero thought to himself, wondering how Diva and Bianco were faring.

Bianco was more or less as strong as Kuroi, but Diva, from what he had seen, was no match for Ritorno. And for that matter, _he _no longer seemed to be a match for _Shiroihando._

Nero felt blood dripping down the back of his throat and knew it was irrelevant. Regardless of whether or not the three of them won their battles he didn't have much time left.

At first he had thought that life-draining power of Ritorno's was only a one-time attack, but it had continued to suck the life from him, albeit at a considerably slower rate than before.

He probably had part of that to thank to the "Chevalier" power he'd gained, but doubted that even her kind's physical healing characteristics would save him from whatever attack Ritorno had unleashed upon him.

"Depending on how Bianco is doing, I may have to use-"

His thoughts were cut off as his brother was struck through the metal containers that separated their fighting areas.

Nero glanced down at his brother, who quickly got up.

"Sorry about that, it would seem they've been hiding a few of their powers from us." His brother apologized as two Kuroihandos, one looking like a movie effect, walked around the sides of the containers.

"_Three_ against two. What terrific odds." He thought.

The "twins" lined themselves up on either side of their brother and smirked at them.

"Don't tell me you two are already _dying_?" One of them taunted.

Part of him was intimidated. The other part wanted to tell the man to shut his insane mouth.

"Bianco. Plan one, we try to find an opening and defeat them."

One of his brother's eyebrows rose.

"And plan _two_?"

"When we're about to die you hold them off so I can kill them."

His sibling shrugged.

"Okay then. They sound like good ideas to me."

* * *

"Dante? What is it?" Saya asked him, wondering why he hadn't opened the door yet.

"Uh… I think it's _locked_."

She blinked dumbly.

"…_locked_?"

He scratched his head.

"Yeah, guess they didn't want us getting in the way or something."

She could imagine Diva telling them not to join her if she were fighting _Ritorno_, but they'd been told there were two more enemies in the next room, and it wasn't in Diva's nature to just lock a door and expect someone to respect her privacy.

Though she might not have any concept of privacy.

In any case, they still needed to go help.

"Dante, kick the door down please."

He cracked his knuckles and hopped from one foot to the other.

"Yes, _ma'am_!"

Then he stomped onto the ground with one foot and kicked with the other, sending his hard boot and even harder foot into the door.

But it didn't budge.

She was actually surprised Dante wasn't able to open it. Every time he'd kicked a door to open it beforehand it always flew off across a room or literally into a wall.

Yet when he brought his foot down she could see something… fluctuating. Like some sort of barrier.

"I guess that's why it won't open it." She thought out loud.

Dante frowned at the door, and then tore Gemonia out of his coat and aimed it at the door.

"Grestond-"

He stopped when she slapped him on the side of the head.

"Agh Damnit! In the _ear_! What the hell's your problem?!" He yelled at her.

"I can't believe you were going to use that attack when Nero, Diva and whoever saved me are on the other side of that door!" She yelled back.

"Well excuse me for trying to open the door!"

"'_open' _it?! You were going to _eradicate it_. And everything _else _on the other side of that door!"

Dante gave a big huff and stuck the weapon back underneath his coat.

"Fine, we'll wait until they finish to knock."

She nodded, hoping Diva was alright.

* * *

The next chapter is going to be rather "big" in terms of importance so it might take a bit longer than usual to update but hopefully it will be worth it.


	60. The Warrior's Void

My, Avarenda, was that _sass_ I heard coming from ya? Be careful, lest ye appear in another story as a deformed cannibalistic she-he with club-feet and half a moustache. And also... you'll constantly be listening to that rick-roll song.

Anyway, seriously, hope you like this, and the following chapter.

* * *

"Move." Nero said, leaping towards the "middleman" both of his weapons hooked in front of him.

The man made no move, however, and the blades that met his were those of the two Kuroihandos.

His feet landed as the two pushed his swords out and away from his body, still held in his hands, but leaving him completely open.

It was then that Shiroi's two narrow, wavy-bladed Krisi thrust forward towards his lungs.

Nero allowed himself to fall backwards and the two swords speared the air above him as Bianco leapt over both of them and stabbed his Katar down at the defenseless man.

Unfortunately, Shiroi was able to make the room flash similarly to Bianco, and everything was a haze of whiteness for a moment.

Then he could just barely make out Bianco blocking an attack from all four weapons and being hurled back into one of the walls, landing face-down on the hard concrete.

Nero rolled backwards away from their enemies and came up, swords ready if the Kuroihandos were in pursuit.

They weren't. In their place Nero felt circles of bright light opening around him, forcing the man to dive away to avoid getting enveloped in the ensuing light, which scorched the ceiling before dissipating.

This time when he got up the "twins" were there to meet him and swung their weapons.

He blocked both of them with a hook-sword each, though his shoes ground against the pavement due to the strain put on them as he tried to hold them back.

"What's the matter?" One of them asked.

"Feeling a bit _tired_?" The other completed.

He scoffed at them and tensed the muscles on his back before moving back slightly and pushing both of them away, giving chase to the real one.

As he did so however, a beam of light shot out of a Kris in one of Shiroi's hands and caught him in the shoulder.

That was the other two's queue to advance once again towards him, this time forcing him to block both attack with one sword.

Though he succeeded in blocking, in the process the hook-sword's double-edged blade was pushed into his chest, cutting into it diagonally as the sword was pushed further in.

He scowled in both pain and anger, forcing his other arm to swing the second hook-sword at their abdomens.

They backed off but again a light beam shot from Shiroi's direction, this time from both swords.

Nero had been more prepared this time, and dodged one of them completely, but the other skimmed along one of his ribs and dissolved the portion it had touched.

Despite heavy breathing, Nero could go on. Luckily he had more than one rib with which to make up for the loss of the damaged one.

"Rather impressive! Considering you've degenerated into a _woman's dog_!"

His heart rate increased with that comment, and he stood upright.

"Bianco."

Nero's brother stepped up next to him.

"What is it?"

"Splitting sun." He told him in code.

The man nodded and stepped in front of him.

Both of them took a moment to take a bigger breath than usual, and then ran forward.

Bianco held the Katar up above his head, reminiscent of an Olympian champion holding a javelin.

As the weapon began to glow he threw it into the ground in front of the three men, sending a huge flash through the room.

Before the flash ceased Bianco leapt forth and grabbed both of Shiroi's hands as Nero jumped up into the air, his hook-swords crossed around his chest.

He swung both weapons at the Kurois, catching both in the chest, before landing behind Shiroihando, gripping his chin and the top of his head.

"This is for that last comment, you ignorant piece of filth."

As he spoke, however, the area began to glow with a strange light, and his hands were forced away from the man's head, as if magnetic poles were repelling each other.

Nero noticed something significant was going on and told Bianco to retreat.

But it was too late for a warning and Bianco found that out soon enough when his hands were repelled and each Kris sword thrust through his side, both going through his kidneys, stomach and intestines.

Before he could so much as move a muscle, the shadow Kuroihando was behind him and he felt his own weapons get hooked around him and have their curved end stab into his lungs, filling them with blood.

He stumbled away, around Shiroihando, over to Bianco and kicked Shiroi away, the swords left imbedded in his brothers stomach.

Both of them began to fall forward, but Nero grabbed around Bianco's chest and thrust a leg out, preventing them from falling to the ground.

He pulled both of them back across the room, away from their enemies, and watched the blood trail leading from Bianco's body form in one long, thick path.

The swords hooked around his lungs eventually collided with the wall and were pushed out, causing them to almost fall forward again before Nero managed to crash his knee into the pavement instead and once again keep them "afloat".

"Nero…" Bianco spoke, blood sliding down from the corners of his mouth and dripping down into the puddle of blood which gathered below them.

"I think… it's time for… plan b…" He managed to say.

He thought about it for a moment, and realized that Bianco was right.

His already dying body wouldn't last long. Especially not now, since the wounds inflicted on him would have resulted in his death anyway.

"Okay."

Neither of them spoke for a few seconds. No brotherly exchange of love, just a conjoined purpose.

Then they both told the other "don't fail" and Bianco ran across the room, tearing the swords from his stomach and hurling them both at the Kuroihandos to force them to block and remain immobile.

The man dove for his own weapon, still imbedded in the floor, and ripped it out of the ground, gripping it with both hands before smashing the Katar down into the ground, shattering it and engulfing the room in light.

Nero shut his eyes immediately and grabbed both hook-swords before running into the middle of the room.

As the light faded he stood, his curved swords being pulled against each other, gazing out at the others.

Bianco lie on the ground, dead, his body having given in to the wounds done to it, his task complete.

All three of his enemies smirked at him.

"It would seem your final strategy didn't work. And now you're going to die." Shiroi spoke to him, as arrogant as ever.

He actually felt himself get a grin for a moment.

"You fool. You'll never understand."

The man scowled.

"What was that?"

He ignored the man and continued speaking.

"This fight was never about surviving or not surviving. That is the difference between warriors, and people with weapons in their hands."

His enemies were confused, not understanding the concept.

It didn't matter. They didn't need to.

Nero pulled the hook-swords against each other, straining the blades.

"A _warrior _doesn't _care_ if they're killed. If they're maimed, loses their hearing, eyesight, or has the flesh torn from their bones. A warrior…" He began, pulling harder.

The blades broke, and were sucked into a black void that appeared out in front of him.

The void widened, sucking all of the "light" out of the room as well as the loose pieces of broken container, all being drawn into the vacuum of emptiness.

"Just tries to defeat his enemy."

Then he let go of the swords and allowed them to be drawn into the blank space.

All three of them fought to remain still, the strong winds tearing at their legs, trying to pull them in as well.

Bianco's body stood up for a moment before both he and his weapon were drawn into the void.

Nero closed his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Diva. It looks like I won't be able to help you fight Ritorno after all." He spoke, the sound from his mouth not traveling into the rest of the room.

His enemies were drawn, screaming silently, into the black hole.

"Don't worry. You have someone else who will save you…"

The images of both her sister and that irritating but strong man Dante flashed through his mind. Then he let himself get pulled off his feet and was drawn into the emptiness where everything else waited.


	61. The final curtain

The blade thrust out at him, the man taking a step to the side and twisting his body away from it.

Her sword sailed by him and as she approached as well, caught up in the force of her attack, he grabbed her arm and threw her through something dark.

For a moment she saw nothing, as if he'd just thrown her into nothing at all.

But then the blackness disappeared, and she noticed that she was no longer staring along the floor, but along the _ceiling_.

Diva's body began to fall down through the air, but she was stronger than a human, and when her legs hit the ground they made no noise.

She glared at him and ran forward again, noticing she had landed in the exact same spot in which she'd began.

His eyes shone a bright amber, accenting his irritatingly shifty grin as he stuck a hand out, and it disappeared through some sort of black hole in the air.

A moment later Diva felt something grip the back of her jacket, the one Nero had given to her, and pulled her away, stopping both her attack and leaving the girl stumbling for a moment.

However, she kept tripping along her feet after her balance had regained itself, and felt the man approaching her quickly.

As soon as she thought he was in range the girl stamped her feet down into the ground and spun, impaling him right through the-

Another black hole.

Ritorno suddenly came out of nowhere and glided over her, drawing Diva's gaze until she felt something sharp stab into her arm.

She glanced at it and notice it was her own blade.

Diva winced, more out of embarrassment for hurting herself than out of actual pain, and withdrew her sword from the hole and her arm. The evidence of it being within both soon disappearing as her wound healed and the hole disappeared.

"So _that's _how Vergil lost." She thought, imagining how much it must have irritated Vergil to fight someone who wouldn't even fight.

"You don't seem to be doing very well, dear." Ritorno spoke mockingly.

Diva didn't let her anger get control of her.

She knew Vergil had been disciplined and everything, but he got angry very easily. And that could make him sloppy sometimes.

"Luckily for me, I only have to hit _you once_. So I'm not all that worried, _pudding_." She spoke the last word as if it were a curse.

He laughed as she reared around to attack him, swinging her blade this time in a horizontal arc.

Ritorno hopped back from the attack and kicked a leg down and then punched out at her.

Not a second later, a foot her in the back of the knee and a fist punched her forehead and knocked her away.

She felt a scowl coming on and the girl regained herself.

The crystal flower opened momentarily and she used Avesipoter(blinding rose flash) to keep him from seeing her attacks.

She raised her sword up into the air, and a whole wave of rose petals appeared behind her.

When Diva swung her sword down, the tsunami split and passed her, reforming as it approached him.

Diva faced away from the direction the attack was going in and saw a hole opening.

She grinned and swung her sword at the object, a long glistening blue whip appearing at the tip of the sword and snapping out at the man as he appeared.

As expected, he avoided the attack again, but as the hole reopened, close enough for him to reach her through it, Diva slashed through the air as she past him, cutting through his emerged body.

They stood several feet apart, facing opposite directions.

Some of the blood on her blade ran down to the tip and a drop fell down onto the shiny obsidian floor.

"Are you ready to be a bit more serious now?" She asked him.

"I've fought all these different people, gotten hurt and ran around this huge place just to fight and kill you. If the only thing you can do is step through your black little _ovals_ this won't last very long. I would at _least _like to be able to fight you a bit to work out my frustration."

She heard him trembling, and wondered if he was really such a coward.

Diva turned about and looked at him, staring at his back and spotting the thin cut along his cheek that her sword had cut.

For some reason, blood never came out of the cut, and seemed restricted to staying "within" it.

As the girl gazed at his bone-white hands and knuckles she realized this wasn't fear.

It was hate.

"You…seem to have gotten rather…long_winded_…_haven't_ you?" He spoke through gritted teeth.

"My feelings are the same; I would prefer to tear you apart a bit before killing you. But if you want me to take this more seriously then _fine_."

Another hole opened beneath one of his hands and she instantly felt the same one curl around her neck and chuck her down the hall into the metal shutter, denting it inwards as she landed.

"That was a lot quicker than before." She thought as he turned around towards her.

"Remember, you little demon-loving whore. _You're _the one who wanted this."

Needless to say, after the comment she was far from grinning.

"Darken this world and fill it with hate. Make all those with fragile hearts lie prostrate. Envy, Greed, Pride and Wrath… Sloth, Lust, Gluttony and Death… sins of none and sins of all, let them fill and fuse in this thrall. Make them die away and give them the truth that they seek. Show them that in the end…"

A sword with a glistening black blade fell out of the air and landed in one of his hands, making a trail of black through the air as he swiped it down.

"They're all just weak."

She said nothing for several moments, seeing the red in his eyes fighting total blackness.

"Hmph. So that's all you get after such a big dramatic speech? A pretty sword? So now you can stick it through one of those holes and cut me?"

Yet, she felt… strange. Her body was covered in a cold sweat. What was this?

"You're wrong." He spoke simply, his voice flat and unmoving. It didn't echo across the hall, despite how wide and long it was.

"The power of my sword, is _this_. Ermefisso(dark touch)."

At his announcement the area around the blade became tinted black, and it looked as if the air had been turned stale.

"Whatever this blade cuts… dies."

Her eyes narrowed.

"What do you mean?"

The red was momentarily overcome by the black.

"It doesn't matter if I thrust this through your skull, or cut you along a toe. The moment this blade touches you the darkness goes into the wound and slowly begins to kill you. It makes you unable to fight, unable to speak. You can't kill your enemy or call for help. This sword of mine, Mezzagiare(Midnight deliverance), is a death sentence."

Her eyes widened as he disappeared in a black hole in front of him.

She felt the air die behind her and jumped away just in time to avoid getting skewered by the blade.

Ritorno came out of the shadow and brought his sword up above his head, walking quickly towards her.

Diva cut off whatever feeling of fear she had and stabbed forward.

However, in mid-stride his body disappeared into blackness and she felt him to her side, finishing the attack.

She desperately swung her sword back in front of his and was smashed into the ground as the force broke her balance.

But the blade didn't cut her.

Holding off his attack, she slowly managed to gain the advantage in terms of strength, using both hands, and slid his sword down her blade before stepping up into a crouch and slashing out at him.

Once again, he vanished into the air and Diva felt his presence behind her.

Bleureine found itself up above her head and blocked the attack as she spun, standing up again, increasing the distance between them and facing him once again all in one move.

He didn't look angry. Not like before when he'd seemed infuriated that he'd simply been hurt.

The thin cut on his cheek has disappeared, and his skin seemed unnaturally shiny, like moonlight bouncing off a mane of white. His long black hair, despite being unchanged, now resembled a hood on a cloak. The coat of the same color just added to the effect, making it look like a hooded robe, his black eyes completing the effect.

She was rarely intimidated but this man… was _death_.

Her body sprung into action and swung both the sword and an Erebrise at him.

Ritorno didn't move, yet, she still lost sight of him and felt both a sword and many smaller little blades cut through the jacket and her back.

Grimacing in pain, she saw him making his move and brought her sword up to defend again.

But as his attack descended he disappeared once again and she spotted him to her side.

Diva rolled away, her shoulder caught on her sword blade as she did so, and came up again.

His movements were slow as he rose from the ground and looked at her again.

"It isn't any use. Either _I _will kill you or you will kill _yourself_."

She swallowed shakily and forced herself up again.

"Isn't that just a tad bit arrogant? Thinking _you're _death?"

"Not the world's grim reaper. _Your _death."

"Is that so?"

He didn't speak again.

Yet as he attacked again, forcing her to block the fatal strike, she could have sworn she heard someone yelling "die!" at her within her own head.

It repeated itself when she blocked his sword again, and again.

Diva jumped out of the way of his attack and swung down at him, but he free hand grabbed her sword hand and held it immobile as he thrust his sword at her again.

Her mind thinking a million things at once, Diva pulled her legs of the ground and kicked him in the chest.

It avoided his attack, but she didn't feel anything give in him and not even a grunt came from his throat.

His dead eyes stared at her and he brought the arm around before throwing her across the hall to skid along the floor.

She coughed while trying to get up, only to discover he was already in front of her.

Diva instantly scrambled back along the floor as his strike descended, cleaving a large chunk of razor-sharp obsidian up from the floor.

He took a step forward and she clambered backwards away from him as he approached her and swung again.

It was completely impossible for her to do anything but run away along the floor as he continued swinging his sword at her, rending gashes in the obsidian's black skin.

Eventually her back hit a wall, and the girl knew she had to do something if she wanted to survive.

Diva rolled to the side, avoiding a vertical cut, and swung her weapon at him, actually managing to make the man take a step back to avoid the attack, since there was no space behind her in which to reappear.

Her breathing was ragged, and she got up, bringing her sword between him and her.

"How am I supposed to kill him?! He can just vanish out of nowhere and reappear wherever he wants." She thought fearfully in her head as his eyes stole away her resolve.

"Wait. If I can make him vanish and then move behind or to the side of me I can catch him off-guard." Her brain strategized.

Diva got ready, made sure he wasn't already transitioning to somewhere else, and leapt at him, her sword swinging down with feign-force so that she could move it quickly.

And it hit his sword.

She stared out, dumbfounded, as he pushed her sword aside and swung down at her.

At the last second she regained a semblance of composure and quickly tossed her sword into her other hand and blocked.

However, while she succeeded in blocking his attack, her sword was pressed against the side of her neck as she held him off.

Diva let out a shaky breath, realizing she was helpless.

Despite expecting him to gain a smirk for a moment, the man's expression remained monotone as he slide his sword down her blade and struck the crystal rose at the bottom of her sword, causing the blade to cut through her carotid artery.

She screamed as her blood was expelled from her body by the pressure going through the vital artery, and used the last vestiges of her powers to flash over to the middle of the room, tripping on her feet as she finished her trip and landed face-first on the hard floor.

Her body was just barely able to close the small cut before it completely exhausted herself, leaving the girl lying on the floor, completely spent.

The petals she had used to cover her lower body fell away and she was left lying on the cold ground, still gripping her sword.

"This… this _can't _be how I'm going to die!" Her weak voice spoke, the sound barely reaching her throat.

"Vergil wanted me to live… I have to-"

"Pathetic."

She scowled and looked up above her, seeing "death'.

"Whenever people are dying they look so pitiful. It's as if they're begging to be exterminated so they can't embarrass themselves _more_."

Diva looked back down on the ground, her nails scratching their way across the obsidian to turn into a fist.

His sword rose, blocking out the light.

"Farewell, bat-whore."

Then the sword descended towards her.

It could be heard hitting something, and she felt nothing penetrate her body.

He attacked again, and like before, his attack was struck away.

Somehow, she managed to start pushing herself up, his attacks repeatedly repelled by blue rose petals that appeared out of nowhere.

"It's not over until the 'bat-whore' _sings_." She spoke to him, swallowing all of the blood in her throat and lungs.

Around her, from the corners of the hallway, petals burst out and began covering the walls, ceiling and floor.

She turned away from the man, who was watching as the entire room was covered in glistening blue petals.

As Diva walked, steps began appearing under her feet, then, when she reached the eleventh step and entire stage of blue burst out before her, curtains being made along the ceiling and wall around her.

Diva spun once again, this time wearing a beautiful blue dress.

"This is for the two men who have died for me… as well as for those who've come to save me. This is the last time I'm going to sing this song." She told him and the rest of the world quietly.

"I am the voice that calls your name, I am searching for _you_, _love_. I am searching for you. Where has love gone? Nothing remains. Only blood and sadness prevails."

The petals began blowing around the hall. Every one of them cutting at the man's body as he was unable to escape.

"My heart _bleeds_ for you. For you I crawl in, in _darkness_."

They blew around her, blowing her hairs with the "breeze" as the flower petals danced to her song, which she had always poured her soul into.

"I am the voice of love that cannot live. Yet it doesn't die… _Never_!"

As she sang the last verse of the song all of the petals formed together and become one massive sword, striking down at the man and carving a gigantic hole in the floor.

Diva gazed at the ground with sad eyes as a blue rose drifted down out of the air.

She caught it softly in one of her hands, and gazed at it.

"...Vergil..."

A sound.

That's all it was.

And a strange feeling. One she'd felt many times before.

She looked down, at her chest, and saw the tip of a dark sword sticking out of it, her dress dissolving as the blackness spread from the wound across her pale skin.

"Your singing is atrocious." Death told her before forcefully withdrawing the blade, allowing her to walk forward, her eyes blank.

The stage vanished and the curtains came down, covering her as Diva's body fell to the bloodied floor.

The rose landed in front of her outstretched hand, which didn't move.

Death stepped on it and a single petal blew out into the air.

Then it rotted, dissolving before it could touch the ground.


	62. For the Fallen

No need to make threats, Avarenda. Though I'm glad you like her enough that you're tempted to do so. I'm sure she'd find it cute. And dgraymanxxx, I'm glad I managed to make the fight interesting. Considering it's one of the pivotal end-fights of the story I'd like it to be memorable.

* * *

"So… uh…"

"No."

"Oh come on!"

"No!"

"Don't be such a-"

"Fine! Just… don't…say…any…more…"

"Okay. I spy something… grey."

"Rock."

"Hey, that was good! How'd you figure it out?"

Saya jumped up from her place on the ground and yelled down at him.

"Because there's only one thing _in _here! Rock!"

He frowned.

"…I spy something ugly."

Her eyes flared.

"Dante…"

The man grinned.

Thankfully, the battle never took place as they could feel whatever was holding the door closed disappear.

He pushed himself up and they both stood in front of the door, forgetting about their little spat.

"You ready?" He asked her.

She nodded, and he threw open the door.

It was unlikely the battle would have still been taking place, and they couldn't imagine Diva _or _Nero losing, but just to be safe they were cautious as they entered the room.

Well, kind of.

"Hey! Nero! Tell us where you guys are or I'll kick your ass!" Dante shouted out the second he got through the doorway, killing Saya's eardrums for a moment.

She was about to elbow him when she realized that something was strange here.

The obviousness of there being a battle here was undeniable. One of the containers which separated the room into different sections had a large hole through it like someone had been forced through.

Not only that, the metal shutter at the other end of the room had strangely been bent inward, into the room.

Perhaps the most obvious sign, however, was the long, thick trail of blood that extended for a majority of the room.

Whoever had made _that _wasn't going to get up again.

But it was weird, that they didn't see any corpses or not even a tattered piece of clothing.

If the fight had gone elsewhere then the shutter wouldn't have been bent inwards toward the room they were in, and neither of them could imagine either of their counterparts ever running away from a fight.

The two walked through the room, and spotted something on the floor, which had been difficult to see since the room was pitch black except for the light that splayed into the room from beneath the bent shutter and through the fancy door behind them.

When they realized what it, or rather, _they _were, Saya gasped and Dante felt his expression harden.

Broken hook-swords.

"Dante… you don't think he…"

He sighed, unsure.

"I don't know. But I don't see Diva's sword here. Let's get going."

Saya's gaze snapped over to him.

"But we can't just-"

"Nero was an objective guy." He interrupted.

A few moments of silence followed.

"If he _did _get killed he would have wanted us to go and save Diva and kill Ritorno. We can't do anything for him, just standing around crying."

She looked back down at the shattered weapons.

"Come on. Let's go." He told her quietly.

Saya nodded, and they stepped past the broken weapons.

As they did, however, both of them heard a sound coming from the other side of the shutter.

It sounded feminine.

Saya's mind became nothing but the desire to find her sister and the girl ran forward, diving under the shutter.

Dante followed right after her, but neither was ready to see what they did.

All along the black, obsidian hallway were thousands of cuts, like something had been scratching at every part of the corridor, yet it was the nude girl crawling her way from a pool of blood, that startled them the most.

Saya screamed out her sister's name as she ran towards the girl.

Dante realized that the pool of blood that must have belong to Diva was at least twenty feet behind her, meaning she'd been crawling her way across the hall for quite some time now.

As she came down near her sister, her knees knocking against the floor and producing no pain, Saya turned Diva over, only to discover that her sister's body felt completely dry.

Her hair seemed shriveled as well, and it looked lighter than usual.

A wound that had gone through her chest had clotted, showing that her healing abilities weren't working.

Yet the girl had been crawling so desperately down the hall. Why?

"Diva, what happened to you?" She asked, her voice shaky.

Her sister's expression was akin to someone who had recently gone to sleep after being up for days being forced to wake up; it looked exhausted and sleepless.

"I…couldn't…Vergil…" Her eyes didn't seem to be capable of fixing on Saya and looked as if they were staring off at some kind of dream.

"Okay, Diva, never mind. Just rest." She told her sister, glancing at the clotted wound.

She heard booted footsteps approaching them and covered Diva's body with her own.

"Here." She heard Dante say softly, drawing her gaze over to his outstretched arm, holding his coat.

Her eyes thanked him, there not being a need for anything further, and she covered Diva with the long heavy coat.

Despite the layer of clothing, the girl still shivered as if the room were freezing.

In disregard for her state, Diva tried to sit up, regardless of how many times Saya told her to lie still.

"Vergil. I have to kill…" She fell back to the floor, unable to move, and her spirit crushed.

No one said anything for many moments, and then her voice spoke in what could only be described as an attempted whisper.

"He… stabbed me with his sword…" She began.

"Whatever that sword hurts, dies… It's what he did to Nero."

"Shh. Don't say anything else, we'll leave now. We can find a way to make you better."

Her sister's sleepy eyes drifted over to Saya.

"You… can't. Please, just do what I couldn't."

Diva's tried to raise one of her hands, but was only able to raise it a few inches.

Saya took the hand into one of her own and held it.

A sleepy smile came over Diva's face.

"My big sister." She spoke, causing Saya's eyes to glaze over with tears.

The eyes drifted over to Dante, who held no tears, but had nonetheless a hardened expression; a strong dam holding back an ocean's worth of emotion.

It was the face of a person who'd seen a lot of people die and had run out of tears long ago, abandoning them for the strength to save those he cared about.

"You know… you remind me of someone…"

Her hand fell down from Saya's and her eyes drifted closed.

Saya's head snapped back up, dripping tears on her sister's cheek as she grabbed her shoulders.

"Diva! No. No. No, no, no! Diva! Wake up! Please!"

The girl didn't oblige.

"Damnit, Diva! Wake _up_! You can't…"

She was unable to finish the sentence, only succeeding in crying on her sister's motionless face.

It felt like she could stay there and cry forever, yet she heard a man call her name.

"Saya. She's not dead _yet_. But we can't _save _her if we don't get _moving_."

The girl was still unable to part from her unconscious sister.

"But we can _end _this. Vergil, Diva, Nero… they all wanted us to win. We've got one more fight to finish."

She drew back in her remaining tears and brought her face away from Diva's, staring down at her.

"Then let's finish it." She spoke, still holding back the tears.

He nodded, already holding his sword.

Diva's face softened, as if she were having a dream, and Saya felt herself smile.

She leaned down and kissed her sister's forehead, and then slowly backed away and stood up.

Dante stepped up beside her, staring straight ahead towards the large door at the end of the hall.

"Let's _kill _this son of a _bitch_." He told her.

She nodded, her face an iron mask of resolve as her own eyes opened and stared, a burning red gaze, at the door.

"_Let's_."


	63. Black Rose

Hopefully everyone reading this story will have read the first one as well, otherwise the significance might be lost to the person when they read it.

* * *

"Heh."

That's what he said while staring at the girl's sword, standing in the middle of his throne room, gazing at the throne which had eight other swords imbedded in it.

Unfortunately, his math had been rather off. Due to Nero using that special attack of his, four more weapons had vanished and were now unusable.

Add to that the three weapons the bat-whore's sister had destroyed when she went on her emotional killing spree, as well as Incendio's melting away in the lava, Avidito never having one to begin with and any other weapons lost, destroyed or otherwise unusable and all he had now, including his _own _sword, was ten weapons.

Ritorno feigned a sigh and walked laxly over to the throne, making his way up the long steps which led up onto a stone landing at least ten feet tall.

Once at the top Ritorno glanced down, at the seat of the throne, imagining what was going on in the chamber below.

Then he shrugged, and thrust the girl's weapon into one of the sides of the throne, shaking the large stone edifice with the power her sword sent into it.

"Those two will be here soon enough. I can take my pick of which one I want to use the most and then this little ritual will be complete."

* * *

They walked towards the door, both staring straight ahead at it, holding their weapons in their hands.

Not even breaking stride, Dante planted a solid, forceful kick in the center of them and sent the huge double-doors crashing inwards into the room.

The room was big, dull grey, and at least fifty feet tall. All that stood out was the stairs-adorned "pedestal" throne, which was white.

That, _and _the man who stood atop it, turning around to face them.

Dante heard Saya exhale when she caught sight of the rapier whose hilt thrust out of the throne, in addition to eight others.

He had no idea what the decorations were supposed to do, and didn't care.

This asshole had killed _enough _people.

"Aha! And the remaining fools arrive! It's as if you have a chip in your brains that tells you to appear when it's convenient for me!" He spoke energetically from the top of his throne.

Neither of them attempted to make a comeback.

Then Saya spoke.

"You're the one who stabbed Diva, _aren't _you?"

The man's grin became a smirk.

"That would be me."

"Then tell me, what did you do to her?"

Ritorno's expression became one of shock and surprise.

"What?! Is she not _well_?! What_ever _could have _happened _to her?!"

Neither Saya nor Dante were amused, yet that only seemed to serve to appease the man more.

"It's called Ermefisso(Dark Touch). Whatever my sword cuts, stabs or otherwise hurts, becomes "darkened". When that happens, the person's body begins to die, even if they normally wouldn't."

"Is there any way to _stop _it?" She asked him.

His grin came back again.

"As a matter of fact, there _is_. The person who owns the blade must stop living; you have to kill me."

Saya nodded.

"Just tell me one more thing. How long do the people affected by that usually have?"

He bit a lip and frowned in "thought".

"Well, it's _usually _a few hours. Maybe a couple days. But in your _sister's _case, as weak as she is…"

Ritorno stopped pretending.

"A half an hour at _best_."

Almost the instant he finished the sentence Saya's sword changed color, turning a glistening red.

Dante glanced at her and saw her expression show a hint of despair.

"No, you're wrong."

For the first time he actually seemed to frown out of genuine feeling.

"What was that?"

Her despair vanished and she glared at him with her fiery red eyes.

"She only has _twenty _minutes left!"

"Oh?"

Saya ran across the room, and up the stairs.

Dante didn't move at all, since the man hadn't released his weapon yet she wasn't in any real danger.

Besides… when _he _got around to killing the little shit who killed his brother he didn't want _anyone _in his way.

* * *

She swung her weapon at him in a horizontal cut, yet he hopped up above it and landed on top of the seat of his throne.

"Well, now, isn't that rash? It seems blindly running forward and hacking at your enemy like an imbecile runs in the family." He taunted her.

She scowled, and leapt up into the air, once again swinging her weapon at him.

Surprisingly, however, he didn't dodge at all.

Instead he grabbed her wrists and stopped her attack in mid-air, holding the girl up by her arms.

"What a stupid little girl. Whenever you attack, it's as if you expect it to hit what you're aiming at. Because of that, you're never ready if your attack fails. Which results…"

He lifted her up higher and then chucked her down towards the ground, the girl hitting it so hard a crater formed in the middle of the floor, throwing dust up into the air.

Almost instantly she burst forth from the dust cloud and ran up the stairs again, this time throwing a Chikesshou at him as she approached.

Ritorno dodged the attack, allowing it to dissolve the wall behind him, and flipped off of the throne, landing at the base of the stairs, facing away from her.

She kicked the step up above her and reared around, heading _down_ the stairs this time.

Saya could see Dante staring at the man's back, a glare hidden behind his normal expression, but _she _was going to kill Ritorno and _she _was going to save Diva.

The girl leapt up into the air, now at least ten feet above her enemy, and swung down her sword at him, enough strength behind it to cut the man in half.

But he didn't get hit by it. Instead, as her attack descended, he jumped up into the air and threw her over his shoulder into the ground, all of the momentum she'd built up pounding her body into the stone floor.

It took only a moment for her to roll her away up into a spin and face him once again, though it took another second or two to catch her breath.

He was sitting on the stairs, grinning at her like before.

"I really _must _hand it to you. Compared to the _other _people I've fought in the past, _you're _the only one whose made the same mistake and fallen for the same trick. Let alone in only a minute."

"Stop talking." She told him running forward again, thrusting Ru-kui-n at him.

He sighed and just before her attack hit, jumped over her head, the sword imbedding itself in a step.

She felt breath on the back of her neck and shivered while trying to get her sword out of the stone structure.

"If I were using my sword I could have killed you dozens of times by now. You know that right?"

"Shut _up_!" Saya yelled, dragging her weapon through the stone to unleash a huge Chiwangetsu towards him.

The attack sailed through the air and hit the area above the doorway, melting through it and forcing the stone above it to tumble down due to there not being a way to support it anymore.

However, that they would have to jump up about twenty feet to leave the room once the fight was _finished _didn't concern her very much. As she could see that the man hadn't been hit by her attack at all.

It wasn't until now, though, that she realized Dante was staring right behind her.

She knew why, and spun, swinging her sword around to attack the man who must have been behind her for at least fifteen seconds.

The man fell backwards into a hole, and then re-appeared up the stairs to fall into his throne, sitting in it comfortably.

"You know… this is fun and all, but if you're finished letting off your steam, I'd like to finish this."

She stood at the base of the stairs, glaring at him.

He smirked and stood up from the throne, walking down step by step and moving his mouth, yet making not making any noise.

"They're all just weak." He finished, and leapt up into the air, bringing his weapon down through the air at her.

Saya brought her sword up to block the attack, but he disappeared in thin air, reappearing behind her and swinging once again.

She forced her sword behind her and rolled the attack away, swinging at his spine as he passed her.

Once again though, he frustratingly disappeared and she felt him behind her again.

Saya swallowed and swept her sword around herself in a full 360 spin, sending a wave of crimson out around herself so he wouldn't have anywhere to reappear.

"Wrong." She heard a voice say from up above her and snapped her gaze up to see Ritorno descending towards her, his sword aimed at her chest.

Her eyes had just enough time to widen before the girl dove herself away from the attack, catching something on her cheek as she did so, causing her to wince in pain.

"Wait, does that mean I'm going to-"

Nothing happened as she rose, despite the fact his sword had just cut through her cheek as she'd attempted to avoid his attack.

Ritorno rose from the ground, standing up again and facing her, swiping her blood from the sword.

As it did so, the sword, and the air around it, began to radiate a black aura.

"You'd better get better _real _quick. It's this little move that killed your _sister_." He spoke to her.

Saya felt a bead of sweat move down her brow, knowing that, despite the fact she hated to admit it, he'd been able to kill her many times before this.

She couldn't lose.

She _couldn't_.

The wound on her cheek healed, and she decided she wouldn't give him another chance.

Diva didn't have much longer left and even if for whatever reason _she _didn't defeat Ritorno she had to make sure she wounded him enough so that _Dante _could. This was all up to them.

The crystal rose at the base of her blade opened up and filled the room with a red light. Yet despite it, the area around Ritorno's sword remained dark.

She had to make sure she didn't get cut or pierced by the sword.

Saya ran forward and swung at him, expecting the man to disappear as he had done so before. But he blocked her attack instead of avoiding it.

Nevertheless, she was going to take this for all it was worth. He only had a one-hand grip on his sword. She could win.

Her blade smashed against his and the girl put all of her strength into forcing the man off balance and towards knocking him onto the stairs, which would leave an opening no matter _who _he was.

Their blades fought one another, battling for control, as her glistening red sword scraped against his glimmering black one.

Yet she soon discovered the difference in their strength as he actually managed to begin to gain leverage against her.

Saya's second hand moved along her sword and pushed against the very end of it as she tried to regain her advantage.

Her whole body was enveloped in a thin layer of sweat as she fought with every muscle to force him away.

Ritorno's resistance seemed to vanish and it seemed that she had succeeded.

But as the girl looked forward she realized he'd disappeared once again, and barely managed to turn about and block before his sword struck down at her, knocking the off-balance girl down onto the stairs, completely defenseless; the position she'd wanted _him _to be in.

His sword pulled itself back and thrust towards her.

As it did, the red light in the room vanished and the blade approached her chest.

Luckily, as expected, the attack didn't reach its destination and soon he could be heard groaning in pain, though it was significantly quieter and he sounded more angry than in pain.

Ritorno stood, standing straight up, his hands clenched into fists around the sword and the air respectively.

His eyes glared at the ceiling, the fiery redness in his eyes belittling her own.

He growled out like an animal and his gaze snapped down at her.

"You think a little _pain _will kill me?" He asked, his voice suppressed but seething with hatred.

The girl's eyes narrowed when she realized this wouldn't be enough, and Saya thrust her sword forward at him.

His pain didn't seem to slow him down though, as his own blade instantly leapt to strike away her sword.

Saya ran up the stairs to gain some distance between the two of them.

"Maybe if I wait long enough it will actually start to damage him." She wondered, running up the stairs like a swordfighter in an old three-musketeers movie.

Her eyes caught sight of her sister's sword and she took the last three steps in a single bound, rearing around to see the man slowly stamping his way up the stairs.

Perhaps it _was _working; the man's veins were clearly visible through his skin as he walked up the stairs step by step.

Yet one way or another, she couldn't afford to just stand here and wait for his body to melt away.

She had to make _sure _she killed him while he was still weakened.

Saya rose her sword up above her, the blade's crimson color deepening until blood began to drip from it, the acidic material burning its way through the stone.

His eyes flared and the man ran the last few steps and struck out at her.

However, she'd learned her lesson; large, predictable attacks were never a good idea.

The girl dove over the man, who was blinded, if only for the moment, by the fumes rising from where the blood had slapped into the stone.

Her shoulder hit the floor first, dislocating it, but she barely grunted in pain before facing him again.

"You fell for it! Touketsubaraheru(Frozen Rose Hell)!" She yelled as almost all of her blood was drained from her body and shot out towards him in a huge stream.

Ritorno was still too stunned from the pain he'd experienced before and was unable to "shadow hole" himself somewhere else before being enveloped in the jet stream of blood.

Soon it encased him and hardened into a crimson ice, fumes rising from it as the acidic block of ice burned the man within.

It took all of her concentration to maintain the encasement, as she didn't even have enough energy to stand up completely anymore.

He couldn't escape now. She just had to sustain this attack until he died. They had won, finally.

That's what she'd _thought _anyway.

But her resolve seemed stronger than the ice was, as it began to crack as the time approached a minute.

She strengthened her will and tried to hold it together more, but only managed to extend the time by another ten seconds or so before the entire cube of crimson acid was shattered and the man's yell reverberated throughout the room.

He vanished and then reappeared right in front of her.

Saya brought her sword up to block, but it was quickly struck from her hands.

Ritorno pursued her in diligence and swung his sword at her so fast her body was reacting more than dodging.

The ends of her shirt and pieces of it covering her stomach were shredded as she dodged the attacks by a hair's width.

But her body was pushed to the limit, and it was becoming clumsy, resulting in her tripping on her own feet and landing hard on her back.

His sword rose up above his head and he cleaved down through the air at her.

"I can't! I can't let him win!" Her heart screamed as the sword approached.

And she caught it between her hands.

Ritorno's eyes stared out widely in complete surprise as she held the weapon back with her bare hands, neither cut open.

"I told you already… I _am _going to save my sister." She told him glaring at the man.

His mouth changed.

She didn't understand why, but the corners of his mouth were curving upwards.

They continued to do so until they became a smirk again, his eyes narrowed in appeasement.

He pulled his sword back and her confusion was answered.

Her hands were black.

"But… it didn't-"

She was cut off as the remainder of her blood forced its way out through her lungs and she coughed it out onto the floor as the man turned away from her, picking up her sword as he ascended the stairs.

"I told you about Ermefisso… I guess I forgot to mention _Mortefisso_(Death Touch.)

Saya held herself up on her elbows, looking up the stairs at the man who glanced back at her.

"Which only needs to _touch _you to cause you to die."

Her body trembled, as if as disappointed with her as Diva would have to be if she discovered her big sister had let her down.

She fell forward, too weak to hold herself up anymore.

His steps echoed throughout the entire room as he rose higher and higher up the stone pedestal, eventually reaching the top.

"But don't feel bad. Since you're half-dead _already_, you won't last much longer than that slut of a sister of yours." Ritorno spoke, stabbing her sword through the throne.

"And you'll _both _outlast that brother of his. Since he'll have to fight both me _and_…"

He thrust his own sword through the top of the throne.

"_my _brother."

That was the last thing she heard before losing consciousness just like her sister had.


	64. Red Haze

Dante watched the man plunge his own weapon through the top of the throne.

Almost immediately it began to shudder and quake, struggling to contain whatever was held within it.

He walked over to Saya and carried her to where the wall had fallen in, right below the only entrance to the room, though it was about twenty feet below it.

As he set the unconscious girl down, the man faced back towards the throne, which suddenly became completely still and silent.

Ritorno withdrew his sword from the throne and the large stone chair slid back along the pedestal, revealing a hole beneath it that soon bellowed smoke up into the room, completely masking what was going on around it.

He made sure not to let down his guard in case Ritorno suddenly decided to get in a cheap shot while it was hard to see, and waited for the smoke to dissipate.

As the smoke seemed to turn into steam and it was thin enough to see, two hands came out of the hole, reaching up through the air like a demon trying to escape from hell.

Then they slammed their palms down onto the stone surrounding the opening and clamped around it, beginning to pull someone up through it.

First his elbows appeared, and then another long mane of black, similar to Ritorno's, revealed itself, followed by a face that looked like a somewhat older version of his brother's.

He wore, strangely, only what looked like a beaten up vest of thin plate-mail that looked like it had been lying in a murky river for years on end, and his pants, while looking like they used to be white, had been stained red by what looked like blood.

Shiny red tatters on his hands looked like what used to be gloves and there were boots on his feet as he brought his legs up onto the "landing" that seemed rather dirty now too.

One way or the other, it wasn't the immaculate look he'd been expecting some ultimate resurrected demon to have.

As the man caught sight of his face, however, the same shifty grin formed on his face and he _knew _the man was definitely related to Ritorno.

"Well, now, it's been a while." He remarked as if the two had met before.

The man looked him over, tempting Dante to give him the finger and tell him to go look for another boyfriend.

"You changed your attire." He remarked.

"That's the other one, Enzeru." Ritorno told him, seeming amused at his brother's lack of knowledge.

Enzeru glanced at his sibling and then back down at Dante.

"There's _another _one? Good grief, it seems Sparda was certainly productive."

The brothers laughed, and Dante took a step forward.

"Hey, you, Enzeru wasn't it? Stay out of my way, I've only got business with that asshole next to you."

Enzeru chuckled.

"'asshole' huh? You brothers certainly don't seem to have very positive personalities. So, Ritorno, what did you do to warrant such hatred?" He asked curiously.

"I killed his brother." The man responded, causing Dante to scowl with how casually he said it.

Enzeru frowned.

"Hm, is that so?"

Ritorno looked at his brother's back.

"What? Wanted to kill him yourself?"

Enzeru shrugged.

"Not really. It just would have been nice to see how he turned out after the fight we had on that cliff."

Dante's hands tightened into fists and Enzeru turned around, hopping over the opening he'd just emerged from and sitting down in the throne behind it.

"Well, I'm a bit weary. Being stuck dead in a floating pool of magical liquid doesn't do much for one's muscles. I think I need to take it easy for a minute." He spoke while lounging in it.

Ritorno laughed.

"So lazy-"

Something fired in-between their heads, causing both to look down at Dante and the smoking weapon that was aimed in their direction.

"Look, I've had enough of this shit. If you want to have a family reunion, be my guest. I'll just blast the hell out of you _that _way. But if you want to fight like a man and come down here before I do that, do it _now_."

"Do you mind?" Ritorno asked Enzeru, who closed his eyes and leaned his head against a hand.

"No. Go right ahead, make sure you don't fall for the shoelaces trick."

Ritorno smirked and leapt off the pedestal, landing at the base of the stairs, the aura already surrounding his blade.

"Hopefully you won't try to catch this like that dumb bitch did."

"_You're _the prick who didn't mention that second ability until she'd already _done_ that."

He chuckled.

"True enough."

Then he jumped forward, raising his weapon.

Dante fired a quick Lamigarda, and the man disappeared.

He stuck Gemonia over his shoulder to block the man's attack that would come from behind.

It came, and he pushed Ritorno's sword away and grabbed the man by the coat, chucking him into the ground and aiming Gemonia at him.

"Not grinning any_more_ _are _ya?" He asked, firing a blast at him and forcing his enemy to disappear and then reappear a decent distance away, falling out of the air and flipping before he hit the ground, landing feet first.

"Well, isn't that interesting?" Dante spoke rhetorically, aiming Gemonia at him again.

Ritorno stuck out a hand and the blast fired from Gemonia's barrel.

However, when it reached the man's hand it vanished into blackness and Dante had to back off when the attack came out of the air above him and blasted down through the floor.

The air hadn't even cleared when Ritorno leapt through the smoking crater and slammed Mezzagiare down onto Gemonia.

Dante, despite his strength, couldn't hold off the strength gained by Ritorno's blade and slowly began to lose ground.

As he did, Dante brought his free hand around behind his sword and backhanded Ritorno's blade away, ripping off his glove and throwing it on the floor before the taint could spread to his actual hand.

The leather curled up on the floor and turned to ash.

"That should be happening to that whore soon _enough_. By _my _count we're almost at ten minutes."

"It's eight minutes, forty-nine seconds jerk off."

Ritorno laughed.

"At least you've got a sense of humor. Those girls were about as stiff as that brother of yours."

Dante scowled and brought his weapon behind him like a baseball bat, energy gathering onto it as he ran forward and swung it around in a full 360, enveloping the air around him in fire and only leaving one place for Ritorno to appear; the air.

As a sword materialized out of nowhere, Dante leapt up past it and grabbed the wrist of the person holding it, head butting the man and throwing him down through the air and into the ground again.

This time though he didn't give a smart remark and just fired a Lamicanhao down at where Ritorno hit the ground.

Dante back flipped through the air and landed a good ten feet from it.

As the dust cleared Ritorno was actually breathing somewhat hard, having had to block the attack as opposed to just dodging it like usual.

Dante's serious expression lightened somewhat and he scoffed.

"You're not really that hard." He told the man, causing Ritorno to glare up at him.

"As long as I know where you're coming from that ultra-cool ability of yours doesn't mean jack. I hope you've got another trick up your sleeve, because if you don't…"

He glowered at the man, aiming Gemonia at him again.

"You're gonna die before I can stop being pissed off."


	65. When the Devil lies

"So? Got anything else that you can do? Or should I finish this up?"

Whatever response Ritorno could have made was cut off as a laugh came down from the pedestal.

Dante glanced up to it, but kept his eyes on Ritorno enough to see if he was going to disappear, just in case his brother was trying to get him an opening.

"What's so funny? Your brother's losing." He spoke up to Enzeru, not amused.

The man waved his hand in the air like he'd said something embarrassing.

"Oh no, no. I don't mean to come across as arrogant. It's just kind of… fun to watch people fight after what's felt like forever. The last one _I _had was with Vergil and before that I'd just stood around in a single, boring room for years on end."

Dante gave a slow blink.

"You fought him?" He asked, remembering their own fight had taken place only within the last year.

"Yes, I did. Such a spirited fighter he was. I was actually the guy who motivated him to do that demon thing of his."

His own eyes narrowed.

"_You _made him like that?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes."

"Okay… after this I'm kicking _your _ass _too_."

"Oh no! Ritorno, please don't lose. He's all scary."

Both of the brothers laughed like one of them had made a joke about some random person on the street.

"Yeah, laugh all you _want _buddy." He spoke, aiming Gemonia at Ritorno as the whole weapon charged up.

Ritorno stopped laughing, and stopped _grinning _too.

"You really think that's going to do the trick again, do you?" He asked, not amused.

Dante tilted his head a bit, and then fired a Lamicanhao at the man.

He disappeared, like usual, and Dante felt the man reappear to his left.

Gemonia still had a bit of a charge in it though, and swung a Batifogo at Ritorno.

As the sword approached the man, however, his attack disappeared and a moment later he felt something really sharp and really hot graze his left side from behind.

Mezzagiare came toward him, but a little pain wasn't going to make Dante slip up and he smashed a booted foot into the man's chest, striking him away, into another shadow, as Dante withdrew Gemonia from the "hole" in the air and felt the weapon in his side withdraw as well.

"Thought so." He stated, checking to see where the man would come out next.

He heard something open up above him and brought Gemonia up to defend.

Mezzagiare fell out of the hole and he struck it away. But no hand had been at the end of it.

A moment another shadow appeared in front of him and Ritorno leaped out of it, jumping up through the air and kicking Gemonia from Dante's grip, the end result being both men standing inches away from each other with no weapons in hand.

Both men had raised feet and time seemed to slow down as they stamped their feet down on the ground and time returned to normal.

"You just lost your only advantage, buddy." He told the man, bringing up his arms in front of him, keeping the elbows in front of his chest.

"Is that so?" Ritorno responded, his hands staying down by his side, open.

Dante took a step forward.

"Yeah, it is."

Then he punched out with his lead hand at the man's head, who ducked and curled his fingers into a "blade" and struck him between the ribs, parting them and jabbing at his kidney.

Dante coughed, but grabbed the man's arm and tossed him over his shoulder.

Ritorno disappeared into another shadow and a moment later he heard another hole open up above him.

There was just enough time to see Ritorno's kick coming down like an executioner's axe, and Dante didn't have enough time to grab the man's ankle, opting instead to dive to the side and avoid the attack.

The second he landed Ritorno kicked off the ground and leapt towards Dante, his elbow pointed outwards and braced from behind by the man's other hand.

He brought up both arms to block the attack, but only saw him disappear, and then _felt _something akin to a large spear hit him in the spine from behind, knocking him forward.

Dante thrust a foot out and swung his body backwards while jumping up into the air, snapping a powerful kick at the man.

Ritorno, unfortunately for himself, _did _have enough time to grab his ankle, however, and did just that, tossing Dante through the air and into a wall, large cracks erupting from the point of collision.

He landed on the ground, keeping himself from falling forward, and didn't see Ritorno anywhere.

But his back was to a wall, and he was pretty sure the guy couldn't make a hand go through a wall without appearing there himself.

Then he spotted Gemonia lying on the ground, and saw the area around Mezzagiare getting darker

"Shit. This was never about fighting to him, he just wanted to get me away from my weapon." Dante thought, running forward from the wall and pumping his arms for speed.

It wasn't any good; Ritorno was already appearing near his sword and Dante still had a few yards to go.

He kicked off the ground, diving for Gemonia-

-and spotted Ritorno already standing in front of him, bringing Mezzagiare and its hellish aura back, preparing to chop him in half.

Dante scowled whipped his hand at the man, snapping the remaining glove off of his hand and at the man like a one-time weak, huge-ass whip.

It slowed him down enough for Dante to twist over the attack and land on his hands, springing through the air to the weapon before Ritorno could react.

His body tucked itself in and spun, his feet slamming into the ground as his hands did, one grabbing the hilt of Gemonia.

"Okay, round two asshole." He spoke, pushing himself up.

Ritorno wasn't grinning anymore, and he didn't look pissed off either, his face like a mask or something, and his eyes seemed to transition from black to white as a second passed.

And he realized what Diva had talked about before when she said he was "death". That's exactly what the man looked like.

"Then again…" He thought, ignoring the sweat on his forehead.

"I've killed a _bunch _of freaks carrying scythes. He isn't any different."

* * *

It was like a haze, or something like that.

She didn't know if the haze was black, white, red, blue, green, purple, brown, yellow, pink… anything.

Diva couldn't see anything, couldn't move anything. But she could hear something making its way across the hall filled with the haze.

The sounds stopped for a moment, nearby, then continued, down the hall.

* * *

"Come on!" He yelled, firing a whole battleship's worth of blasts at the man, all of which disappeared into a shadow and then reappeared to attack him.

And when he dodged, it went into _another _goddamn shadow and attacked him somewhere _else_.

He'd had enough of this shit, and the fact that Ritorno hadn't shown up again since the "blast maze" began was making him testy.

Dante swung Gemonia around in an arc, detonating all of the attacks in mid-air and leaving himself completely open.

That's the way it'd _look _anyway, and he knew Ritorno would take the bait.

A few seconds later a black aura cut through the smoke and he grinned, backing off and swinging Gemonia in front of him to knock away the attack as his boots hit the floor and the room was engulfed in a massive amount of light.

"Take _this _one up your shadow hole!" He yelled at the man, momentarily realizing it sounded…

The energy fired, and erupted forth towards the man's head.

Then it… vanished; swallowed by a tiny little shadow that looked like a circle.

"You've gotta be friggin' kidding me." He spoke, wide-eyed as Mezzagiare thrust down at him.

Dante, in an effort to not be a chicken staring at a meat cleaver, backed off, and his back hit a wall.

It was enough though, and Mezzagiare just barely failed to reach him.

Still, he couldn't move anything to get away. He might as well just aimed Gemonia over his shoulder and shot his own ass off.

"Pathetic. I would have at _least _expected you to have hurt me before getting killed."

He scowled.

"Just stab me already, asshole."

"Hmph, fine. I suppose it's to be expected."

Dante tried to raise, Gemonia, but just had the black sword positioned in front of his throat.

"It's no use. Regardless of how strong you are against _demons _your nothing but a half-breed demon hunter. You can't defeat a true opponent, the _grim reaper_!" He drew the sword back a bit and thrust it forward into-

-some kind of flash that knocked the sword away.

"What the hell?!" The man yelled, knocked out of his "death" complex.

Dante's eyebrows furrowed and he looked up at the entrance to the room that had "fallen in" when Saya's attack hit the wall.

"Bullshit." He spoke, his mouth staying open afterwards as he watched someone stand up.

"I've come to end this ridiculous story… you can't handle it." He announced proudly before bounding off of the opening, swinging down near the two and both kicking Ritorno away and landing near Dante, aiming his sword at the man.

Vergil had just saved Dante's life, he _should _have been _grateful_.

"You ass. Look at you; appearing out of the friggin' blue after being gone for days on end and stealing _my _spotlight."

"Well…"

Vergil grinned and swung his sword at Ritorno, sending an attack at him that forced the man to back off.

"You can't _possibly _believe that _he _deserves to be the one to win in this little battle, now do you?" He spoke with a smile, referencing the man whose eyes had seared red by now out of hatred.

Dante frowned for a moment, and then put Gemonia up on his shoulder.

"Now that you _mention _it, you're right."

Vergil swung his sword down and scraped the edge along the ground as they walked towards Ritorno.

"You think you can kill _me_? The person who could have killed _both _of you in a _heartbeat_?"

His brother stuck a finger out and waved it.

"You should come to realize you _couldn't _kill _either _of us." He announced, the twins coming to a halt.

"Not even on a _good _day _buddy_." Dante added, aiming Gemonia at Ritorno.

Ritorno's fists were dripping with blood drawn from his nails piercing his skin as he clenched them into fists.

"I think he needs to learn the _hard_ way." Dante told Vergil before his sword was struck over his head and the brothers ran at the man, ready to finally finish this battle.

* * *

I'll explain how he came back later.


	66. Payback

Their attacks came simultaneously, both slicing through the air at the man.

Ritorno back up into a shadow, and disappeared.

The demon twins swung their swords around in full circles, discouraging Ritorno from appearing anywhere but-

"Now." Vergil told him, the brothers stopping the sword-saw and bending their legs while looking up as a circle appeared above them.

They leapt into the air, and Vergil struck away Mezzagiare as Dante thrust out Gemonia at Ritorno.

Their enemy managed to avoid getting skewered by twisting as he came down through the air, but still caught a sizeable portion of his left arm along the blade as the enemies switched places, the _brothers _now in the air.

Both of them faced him and Dante aimed down at the man, charging up a weak Grestrondo and firing it down towards the stunned opponent.

As the energy descended on him, however, his face was filled with a maniacal grin and a large shadow appeared in front of him, absorbing the attack and likely summoning it right behind the duo.

Dante didn't even have enough time to curse as he felt the searing energy grow closer.

As it did though, a hand grabbed his shoulder and he felt like he'd jumped through a wormhole, Vergil's "trick" drawing them behind the path of the blast and once again putting Ritorno in front of its route, _this _time not grinning so much.

The blast slammed into and shot through the hard floor, dissolving it and hundreds of feet of earth beneath it.

Dante almost fell on his ass when Vergil let go of his shoulder, but managed to put a foot out and stop it.

"Hey, ass, how about warning me next time?" He complained to his brother, who stood perfectly upright and stared at the smoldering hole, smoke rising from it.

"Oh, my sincerest apologies, brother. I should have taken the time to give you an instructional videocassette as the nuclear-strength blast descended on us. That was so inconsiderate of me."

Dante rubbed the bottom of his nose.

"Yeah…. well, you're an moron."

"_You're _a moron." He responded not so "Vergilly".

Dante chuckled, followed by a grin from Vergil.

"What happened to you, man?" He asked suddenly, aware they didn't have the time to really talk about it but needing to know.

Vergil lost his grin and frowned.

"I'll tell you after we finish this fight." He responded as noise could be heard coming from the crater, the smoke dissipating somewhat.

"Jeez, you always have to make things so segmented." Dante commented, a hand reaching up the steep slope of the hole and gripping onto the floor that made up its "edge".

A moment later an arm swung over it, holding a sword, and Ritorno pulled himself up to the floor.

The blast had disintegrated the sleeves of his coat and shirt below it completely, and left the shoulder looking torn and ragged, with his arms looking darker than usual from having been charred.

He was breathing heavily, but took a big breath and a step forward.

"You'll pay for that." Came the remark.

"Well, what'd you _expect_? You're fighting two guys who kick the world's ass on their _own_. It's your own fault for fighting alone without anyone else."

Ritorno snarled and brought his sword up in front of him.

"I don't _need _anyone else! Not to kill _you _two!"

No one said anything for a moment, and then Vergil brought his sword up as well.

"How could you have almost lost to this man?" He asked disapprovingly.

Dante gave a huff, bringing Gemonia up as well.

"You know, that's a good question."

Ritorno ran forward, disappearing into a hole here and reappearing in a shadow there all the way to confuse them.

Dante could keep up in general, but he knew that Vergil, due to his way of fighting, could see each and every move the guy made, so there was nothing to worry about.

Suddenly, Dante felt a hand push him back and Vergil stepped out in front of him, going into some kind of fighting stance, his sword sheathed and behind his back.

As their enemy approached he stamped forward and unleashed the sword from its scabbard, slicing a huge crescent across the room that apparently Ritorno couldn't absorb.

He jumped up into the air, and was met by the very man who had forced him into it.

Vergil struck the man's sword with his own, but then hit him in the head with the sheath, knocking him down towards the ground.

Ritorno vanished as he would have hit the floor and Dante rolled out of the way to avoid the attack from above.

Mezzagiare was imbedded in the floor as Ritorno landed, and he was unable to pull it out, cursing at his inability to do so.

Dante spun up from the floor and swung Gemonia like a baseball bat at him, forcing the man to duck.

A kick thrust out from him and struck Dante in the ribs, knocking him away with a grunt, but before Ritorno could use the time to withdraw the sword a katana flew through the air and forced him to back off without a weapon as it impaled itself through the ground, easily being pulled out of it by its wielder when Vergil arrived at the spot.

His brother gaze at the glowing black weapon, making sure not to touch it, as Dante walked up to him.

"So, you want to finish this up?" He asked his always objective and "on-the-ball" brother.

The white-haired man looked over at the corner that Saya lay unconscious in, and then at rubble that covered the doorway to the room where Diva lie dying.

And he thrust his weapon down into the ground again, the hand guard holding Mezzagiare's own guard down in the ground, and was soon further secured with Dante's weapon.

"To hell with that. I'm going to make him pay for hurting them."

Dante cracked his knuckles while the two walked their way over towards the haggard man.

Vergil rolled a fist, approaching the bastard who'd caused all of this.

The fist leapt forth like it were some kind of missile, and struck the man right on the cheek bone, knocking him away.

Before he could stand up fully again, Vergil was next to him, and pelted him with a barrage of left downward jabs before grabbing his head and kneeing him in the stomach, pushing him away, stumbling.

Ritorno spun up and glared at Vergil, but only had the chance to observe the sight for a moment before Dante's fist punched him in the temple, knocking him into a wall and sending down pieces of it.

One of his hands came out, an attempt at a hook, but Dante ducked it and jabbed the man's bottom "floating" rib, breaking it before his other fist came up and uppercut him right in the jaw, striking him into the wall again.

Ritorno kicked out, catching Dante in the shoulder before the man pushed him away, knocking him down onto the floor and raising a fist- and getting slammed in the side of the head by one of Vergil's booted kicks.

Dante leapt up from the ground and the brothers stood side-by-side, their shoulders touching.

Vergil's right hand and Dante's left hand jumped out, cracking Ritorno in the forehead. Their other hands came around in parallel hooks, catching his neck and skull between them.

The lifted up their outlying feet and kicked him in the abdomen, right over to the hole and barely managing to stop himself from falling into it.

The twins ran forward, completely synchronized in stride, and jumped up, spinning through the air and planting two shattering kicks in the man's chest, breaking most of his ribcage and sending him hurtling down into the narrow chasm below.


	67. Death's Return

Vergil took a deep breath as their enemy plummeted down the hole, Dante giving a strange kind of yawn in replacement of a breath.

He wanted to sigh at that, but kept himself from doing so.

The twins stood there, gazing down at the pit in the floor before Dante turned and looked at Vergil, gaining a strange look on his face.

A moment later a hand grabbed him by the collar and Dante almost got directly in his face.

"Hey, _bro_, tell me something." He spoke, scowling.

Vergil blinked once. Slowly.

"What?"

"This outfit you're wearing… you know, the black suit, when'd you get it?"

"Yesterday evening."

"'yeesterday evaning'? _You _were the ass who kept coming over to the shop and bothering us!"

Vergil pulled the hand away from his collar.

"What of it?"

Dante grabbed his collar again. This time with _both _hands.

"You lazy bastard! Why didn't you help us out?! There was like _thirty _guys on the way here! I got tired of fighting them after like my fifth person! _I _got _tired _of _fighting_!"

He rose one of his eyebrows.

"If I had done that, you would have realized that it was me, thus resulting in me failing in my objective. And by the way, don't crease the suit. It's rented on your credit card."

The hands tightened and lifted him up into the air.

"You little… my credit sucks as it _is_! And _what _'objective'!"

Vergil pinched Dante's nose, causing the half-demon to let go of his collar and hold it to keep himself from sneezing, something that had worked against him when they were _boys too_.

"I didn't know what the abilities of Ritorno's weapon were. All I knew was that it drained me of my strength and left me, as much as I hate to say it, completely weak. I wouldn't have been able to defeat any enemies during the initial stages _anyway_."

Dante contorted his face, somehow pushing back the desire to sneeze, before glaring at him again.

"Yeah, and what about after _that_?"

Vergil gaze a tiny version of a shrug, looking away from him.

"I still didn't know anything about the powers of the stronger adversaries we would have to fight. I knew that you could all handle yourselves and decided to remain hidden in case the three of you were ever losing a fight. A reinforcement, you could say."

Dante's hands balled into fists.

"Then where the hell were you when we were getting our _asses _kicked in that _pit _last night?!"

Vergil actually felt his mouth move upwards a bit, forming something between a grin and a smirk.

"Well… I was just enjoying the show of watching you get beaten around like a rag doll so much I suppose I forgot to help you out."

Dante scoffed, looking away from him.

Several seconds of silence followed, no sound being heard anywhere in the room.

"Then what about when Diva was captured?"

He felt himself lose his "smile" and frowned, looking down at the ground, a mix of humiliation and sadness in his eyes.

"I… still didn't know what the rest of them could do."

"So you let them take her just like that." Dante spoke calmly, belying the hatred Vergil knew that he felt.

His eyes narrowed, flinching for a second.

"Yes."

Dante whirled around and grabbed him by the collar again, the one hand holding the fabric tighter than a vice.

"I thought you _cared _about her! That girl was suffering the whole time we thought you were dead! She _cried _you prick! I never saw her cry _any _other time than when she thought they'd killed you!"

Vergil's muscles contorted in agony, furious that he wouldn't strike his brother away. Part of his mind felt that way too.

But… he deserved ever single word Dante had spoken.

Still, he wasn't prepared.

"Tell me, in your 'battle plans' did you graph out the possibility of her being _raped_?"

His eyes shot into saucers, and he looked down at his twin.

"……what?"

"After she was taken. I don't know who did it, but I _know _it _happened_."

Vergil felt his body tremble as his mind actually tried to grasp what Dante had said.

"But more than all that, you know what really pisses me off the _most_?" His brother asked, pulling his hand away and releasing Vergil's collar.

"The fact that she'll forget about _all _of that the _second _she sees you up and walking around."

He felt himself smile for a second, thinking about how much that sounded like her.

"You don't deserve her, you know." Dante told him.

Vergil inhaled, standing up straight.

"Yes, I know that."

Dante glanced over at Saya's sleeping body as Vergil got a hold of himself, and reacted in a strange way.

"What is it?" He asked his twin as the man looked more closely.

"That guy's sword has a special ability to make anyone it touches start to die. The only way it can be stopped is if the guy who wields it is killed. And she's not looking any better."

Vergil's eyes narrowed and he looked down at the pit; the resting place of the not-so-dead enemy of theirs.

"Is that what happened to _Diva _as _well_?" He asked.

Dante didn't speak for a few seconds, but stepped up beside him.

"Yeah."

He made fists with his hands and walked up to the edge of the narrow chasm.

"How much time do we have left?"

"Not sure. Maybe like five minutes."

Vergil nodded.

"Then let's finish this." He spoke solemnly.

As they both prepared to jump down the hole, however, a voice from atop the stone throne took away from the seriousness of the situation.

"Hello Vergil." Spoke a familiar voice down at him, and the half-demon paid the adversary just a slight glance.

"Enzeru, you looked ragged."

The man chuckled in response while shifting slightly in the stone chair.

"And you're quite the opposite. Nice suit by the way."

"What do you want?" He asked, tired of the casual talk he knew the man could maintain all day if he wanted to.

"Well, I just wanted to tell you, in case you'd forgotten; Ritorno can do that shadow-teleport thing regardless of where he is, and can travel _quite _a _distance_ too."

He sighed.

"What's your point?"

The man laughed a bit before responding.

"If it were _me_, and _I _could do that. I would use it to get over to my weapon before my enemies could reach _theirs_."

Vergil cursed in his head as Dante did so out loud, and they both reared around and ran for the spot where all three of the weapons stood imbedded in the ground.

But it wasn't quick enough, however, and Ritorno, damaged though he was, soon appeared out of a shadow and angrily tore their weapon from atop his own, throwing them over his shoulder before grabbing hold of Mezzagiare and pulling it from the floor.

"You were _right _about _something_, red boy." The man spoke, his eyes filled with rage, though his face looked almost like an expressionless mask.

"Because you can see my shadows appearing in the air, you can tell where I'm going to appear."

The twins had long since stopped trying to reach their weapons and stood there, facing him with no signs of being intimidated.

"But you don't really think that I'm limited to just making my own _personal _shadows, do you?"

They both felt confused, not understanding what he was getting at.

"Don't worry, you'll find out soon enough, what I mean. Oscuvolo(darkness cloud)."

As he spoke, the aura surrounding the sword he held erupted and covered the whole space within itself, for a moment leaving the brothers to think there was actually some sort of long-range version of the "instant" death attack.

However, instead, it looked like they were in a large space that was illuminated only by invisible black lights, with no signs of an end to the space.

Then they heard Ritorno's voice echo all around them.

"This entire _space _is my _true _power. That ability to phase in and out of space through shadows was only the tip of the iceberg. Within this space, I can appear any_where _at any_time_. And you'll never see me coming."

Vergil scowled.

"It is, truly, the complete and total manifestation of death."

He heard something speak behind him, only inches away.

"Death has come for you two. And it _will _catch you."


	68. Dante's Inferno

Vergil dove forward, rolling away from the blade that he was sure had been headed for him.

He heard Dante do a much louder version and both began to rise- when they spotted their enemy standing right between them.

The man, "death"'s eyes flared and his sword swung, somehow seeming akin to a scythe as it did so, aiming to sever their heads from their necks.

They both ducked and once again dove forward, but this time aimed for the man's legs, trying to trip him up long enough for them to go and get their swords.

However, the specter disappeared again, and they slammed into each other, knocking their heads together and making both of them dozy for a moment.

Fortunately, Vergil was seasoned enough to know that they were in a vulnerable state and pushed Dante in one direction while rolling himself in the other to avoid a sword strike that swept down at them.

Both of them had avoided getting "touched by death" for the moment, but if they didn't get themselves some blades it would be useless trying to fight Ritorno, whether they managed to survive or not.

Vergil was closest to _Dante's _weapon and vice-versa. But it was better to use a weapon he wasn't accustomed to than to have nothing to use at _all_.

Dante may not be the smartest twin to have in the world, but he had more than enough battle sense and he knew his brother would be headed for the weapon near _him _as _well_.

He didn't stand up before he began running and had to use his sense of balance to the greatest extent to keep himself from falling forward on his face as his legs propelled him towards the weapon, his chin not a foot from the ground.

Vergil grabbed the handle of the weapon as he landed, his ribs taking the majority of the force and grumbling out their displeasure at him as the half-demon pushed himself up, looking over at Dante but still keeping up his guard.

Dante had succeeded in reaching the sword by _him too_. And it seemed that Ritorno hadn't reappeared out of the "fog" yet.

The brothers closed the distance between each other, but maintained a far enough space between them that Ritorno couldn't just cut through both of them if he managed to wound either.

"Any ideas, planner?" Dante asked, the two facing away from each other for the most part, but constantly moving and turning so as not to be easy targets.

Vergil thought about what they could do.

The main "advantage" they'd had before was that since they could see where he would appear, one would block or "move" the attack while the other countered.

In _this _situation, however, they had lost that. The only way to ensure a hit would be too dangerous to use, even for _them_.

They exchanged their weapons, and decided to go back-to-back after all.

"That attack that you used to make that gigantic hole earlier, does its full version produce a lot of light?" He asked, responding to the question with his own.

"Yeah. But it takes a while to charge up, and I can't move around when it's doing that."

He nodded.

"That's fine. This space seems to just be an enlarged version of those shadows he used before. If we overcome the darkness with a form of light, it should help dispel this 'cloud of darkness'."

There was a short silence between them.

"And if it _doesn't_?"

"Then this will take a while."

Dante laughed and aimed Gemonia out into the air, knowing there wasn't much of a point in pointing it in any particular direction.

"How are you gonna get him to go in front of this, though? I mean, if he can teleport around and everything."

Vergil glanced from left to right, surprised that their enemy hadn't taken advantage of their conversation to attack them.

"Whether or not he can completely dissolve in and out of space at will is something we're unsure of. At least not constantly. I think he still needs to completely come out of the fog and move again before vanishing."

"And how do you plan on getting him to stop moving around?"

Vergil felt himself sigh, despite the situation.

"He can _hear _us you know."

His brother shrugged as energy charged up in the barrel of the weapon.

"Screw 'em."

"I'd rather not. Feel free to have some alone time afterwards if you feel so inclined."

Dante let out a big "ha!".

"A _sex _joke… from _you_? We _must _be at the edge of the frigging cliff here."

"Just make sure you don't fall off. Understand?"

Dante laughed once more.

"Haha. I got ya."

Then Vergil ran away from his brother, making both of them seem vulnerable.

In reality, even if Dante's attack _didn't _work, if Ritorno tried to attack him his brother would be able to drop his weapon and grab the man's arm to stop him.

After that, it would just be a matter of Vergil running over to them as Dante held the man immobile and cutting the bastard's head off.

"They…" He thought, his hands trembling in anger and rattling the sword as a result.

"There isn't any way she would ever let them do something like that." Vergil continued to reason, momentarily oblivious to everything else.

"Perhaps he was just lying. Dante was just trying to make me feel bad."

His thoughts continued, even as something began to form out of the fog behind him.

It was pure chance that Dante had decided to look over his shoulder at the moment that Ritorno formed right behind Vergil.

"You stupid bastard! What's wrong with you?!" He yelled, snapping Vergil out of his thoughts and allowing him the speed to spin around and parry Ritorno's thrust.

"What's the matter, boy? It seems that you heard something that bothered you earlier on." The man taunted him as their weapons slowed down and came back once again to clash, Vergil's blue pupils glaring into the constant whirling black and white clouds that danced throughout Ritorno's "eyes".

"Vergil-"

"Stay _there_." He told his brother, fighting against the blade which strived to make contact with him.

Their enemy didn't seem to notice their brotherly "struggle" and continued.

"I _must _admit, I wasn't aware that you had _allowed _her to be taken away. I might have a laughed a bit harder if I'd known that. Didn't she call your name out before losing consciousness as _well_?" He asked, sounding rather amused at the last sentence.

Vergil's muscles felt like they grew twice their regular size and began to push the sword away.

"Oh, I _see_. So the girl _is _your weak point. If I'd known _that_ was what it would take to draw you out of hiding I'd have done it long ago before Mizu began to have his 'entertainment' with her." He goaded further.

His mouth formed into the greatest scowl he'd ever had and Vergil forced the man away from him, immediately following the man and swinging at him.

But as the sword swung through him it looked like it had cut through a cloud, and Vergil immediately stuck his sword over his shoulder to block the man's sneak attack.

"Hm. I wonder how many times the two of them were like this… without the swords and up against a _wall _of course but-"

Vergil shouted out as he pushed the man's sword away and spun around, cutting through the man twice as fast as before, but discovering it still wasn't fast enough, as Ritorno appeared several feet away from him, smirking.

It took all his self-discipline to keep from running forward and swinging at the man with his sword like a baseball bat, but he knew that wouldn't save her anymore and cutting his own head off.

"You only _have _about five minutes _left_, _don't _you? Why are you taking your time? It seems to me like you don't care at _all _if that little whore of yours lives or dies. Or did you just lose interest when you realized she wouldn't have put out?"

His entire expression went wide for a few moments and he could vaguely hear Dante saying "oh shit" somewhere around them, but soon began to lose all focus on everything but Ritorno.

"You're going…to _pay_ for that." He spoke, his eyes beginning to glow yellow as he felt his body changing on the cellular level.

As his body began its transformation, however, something knocked him aside and he saw a massive light envelope the dark space, extinguishing the dark fog all around them and seeming to drown out Ritorno as his own eyes were temporarily blinded.

The feeling he experienced afterwards was akin to when you were standing right in front of a stun grenade as it detonated and were unlucky enough to remain conscious. It felt like he was staring straight off into white open space and there was a constant ringing in his ears, though he felt no burning sensation, it still took quite a while before he managed to see anything again, and when he _did _a familiar, silver-haired figure could be seen facing away from him, aiming a gun blade at the a large hole that had completely disintegrated one of the walls of the room, thankfully neither the one Saya nor Diva had been in front of or behind.

He felt his transformation recede completely as his brother turned around, the light left in the room seeming to shine off of his silver hair and the pendant that he wore around his neck.

"You always _did _have an anger problem." Dante stated, grinning.

Though he was grateful Dante had kept him from transforming and losing his mind again, it had been his wish for _him _to have killed Ritorno.

"You should have only blasted his _legs _off." Vergil told his sibling, standing still and still unable to grin himself.

Dante laughed out loud with significant noise, slapping one of his knees with a hand.

"What? So _you _could kill him after I saved you from growing fangs?"

"I saved _you _when earlier on. At the very least you still owe me one." Vergil responded.

"Tell ya what; when Diva beats the hell out of you for coming to save the day so late I'll stop her before you're too ugly to have an open casket funeral."

Vergil grinned as well.

"Fair enough."

Dante lowered his weapon, aiming it at the ground, as they gazed at each other.

The dramatic lighting affecting Dante's amulet receded-

-and a sword with a black aura thrust out of his chest, sending the necklace flying away.

Both of their grins disappeared as the blade was pushed further out through his chest, sending a large splatter of blood down onto the ground.

Dante dropped his weapon to the floor, the weapon making a clattering sound as it did so, and blood ran from the sides of his mouth.

A smirk formed, and the light faded completely.


	69. Vanish

I know; probably the shortest chapter released in this whole story. But I think you'll find it adequate until I get another full-length chapter up.

* * *

"Well now, it seems your brother paid for your weakness." Ritorno remarked, beginning to withdraw Mezzagiare, Vergil watching, eyes wide.

As he did, however, Dante grabbed the sword from the front and behind, a black taint spreading from his hand and a grunt from showing that whatever effect it had on someone was already working.

Another smirk formed in the space, but this one was made with reddened teeth.

"Looks like _I _got _you_, you son of a bitch." He spoke as Ritorno continued his attempt to withdraw the lethal sword from Dante's body, failing to do so.

"Hey! What are you doing idiot?!" Dante yelled at Vergil, who was snapped out of his stupor.

"Get him! _Now_!"

Vergil realized, in a split second that Dante's plan from the start had been to get Ritorno's sword stuck in himself, so that they could be sure Ritorno couldn't just keep reappearing.

It took a second _more _before he ran forward, sword brandished, towards the two.

His eyes hurt, but refused to tear up, and the man ran past his brother, slicing against Ritorno's left arm and twisting around, cutting along the man's back, prompting him, ever so gently, to let go of the sword and abandon it to keep from losing his head.

As he did, the black cloud around them disappeared and Dante fell forward to the ground, letting out another grunt as Vergil chased after the man who had single-handedly brought death upon all the people who were closest to him.

The sudden "brightness" of actual lights seemed almost like a wall to Ritorno, forcing him to stop in his tracks. But despite the fact it felt as if they were burning, Vergil kept his own eyes open and continued gaining on the man.

By the time Ritorno turned around and saw Vergil coming at him, all he could do was put out his arms to block against the attack.

Because of whatever powers he possessed his arms weren't cut off, but they still suffered a deep laceration, and Vergil continued by turning around the sword once it had passed the arms and swiped the sword at the man's stomach, cutting _that_ as well, despite the fact, Ritorno had jumped back.

It was probably _that_ which had saved from getting bisected. But it wouldn't save him.

Vergil walked forward, a snarl on his face, and rose his sword up high, swinging it down and putting an even deeper gash in the man's arms than before and knocking his arms out of a blocking formation long enough for him to bring the sword back and run the man through the stomach.

Despite anyone's toughness, it was impossible to hold your breath in when someone stabbed you in the stomach, as the air was pushed upwards through your lungs. So it wasn't a surprise when Ritorno gasped upon getting pierced by the blade.

But Vergil didn't care about that. This man had caused his brother and even _Diva _their ability to live well. And while Dante had allowed himself to get hurt to give Vergil an opening, the suffering Diva had gone through as a result of this man's gripe with the person who had killed his brother was nothing short of a tragedy; something the girl had experienced enough of many years ago.

All of this had come about after the man had thought he'd _succeeding _in killing his brother's murderer. There was absolutely no excuse for what he'd done, and there wasn't a single thing in the world, or the _universe _for that matter, which could save him now.

Vergil withdrew his katana only to slash it up along the man's chest, slashing downwards again through the same cut and brought the hilt up against the man's forehead, punching the sword's hand guard against his collarbone and shattering it before, dragging the blade down across the bastard's entire abdomen.

He whipped around, cutting through the man again, horizontally, and seeing blood fly over his head.

But that wasn't it.

Vergil turned around once more, not satisfied with the nearly-dead eyes in the man's head, and drew back the katana one final time before thrusting it forward through his heart, impaling him with the weapon all the way up to the hilt.

Despite the wounds he knew Ritorno, "_death_", could still understand what was going on and he leaned forward.

"Your desire for revenge was not something to be judged. I would have felt the same way if it had been Dante who was killed. And I know _he _would have done the same for _me_… But when you believed you had killed me and _continued _to attack people, people that I _cared _about, _that_…_can _be judged. So, despite the fact I believe in no such thing, I offer you this; if there is _indeed _a hell, you, without a doubt, are _going_ there. And I hope that there is, because there is not a _single _thing I can do to you that would repay the pain you've caused to them. Nor the heartache you put through the girl who has more than paid for everything she's done through sadness."

Vergil waited a few moments before speaking again, a word that, once it's essence was contemplated, was the most horrible thing you could say.

"Vanish."

Then he twisted the sword and drew it out, a shower of blood spraying out past him as Vergil watched the man's body descend towards the ground and hoped his body would vanish into thin air.


	70. The Twilight curse

He turned around, listening for the lifeless thump that would signify that this battle was finally over, keeping his eyes closed as if to keep himself from reeling around and attacking the corpse.

Yet it didn't come.

Vergil listened longer, but still heard nothing.

As he once again turned around, Vergil saw a lot of blood and small pieces of torn fabric, but that was all. No body lay on the stone floor and for a moment Vergil wondered if what he'd hoped had actually come to fruition.

Then Enzeru spoke up.

"You might want to look behind you." He said, causing Vergil to look behind him, and see a nearly-dead, yet moving Ritorno pulling his sword from Dante's chest, the man already unconscious otherwise he would have kicked the bastard in the head.

"He's _persistent_. _That _much I'll _give _him." Vergil thought as he flicked his sword-holding wrist hard and "snapped" the majority of the blood off of the blade as he approached the man that stood up.

Even if he still had enough strength to manifest that dark cloud again, it wouldn't matter. Vergil could block and counter attacks from a nearly dead man long enough for him to succumb to his wounds. And even if somehow he _did _get touched by the sword, he would survive long enough for Ritorno to die out anyway.

It was all his enemy could do to stand _up_ and had it been anyone else, except for the twisted filth that violated Diva, he might have felt dishonored for killing such a vulnerable enemy.

Vergil brought up his sword, this time aiming to decapitate his enemy, but as Ritorno twisted the sword so that the blade faced a different direction something once again seemed to burst forth from the aura of the sword, though _this _time it was akin to a sort of "lifeless" _white _fog.

The thing enveloped both of them and swirled around the two before it looked as if they were in a normal cloud.

Yet the light within the space seemed strange. For some reason it seemed… _paler _than usual, and Vergil felt as if the area were altering itself constantly, despite the fact his feet told him otherwise.

The fog near their feet was now grey and was much thinner than before, and Vergil could see just fine.

It caused him to wonder what possible advantages this ability could have other than to minutely disorient an enemy. A hindrance, to be sure, but not something that he would expect from the leader of a group of warriors.

As he followed the path of the fog up the other man's _body_, however, Vergil realized _exactly _what it did.

Ritorno's skin was paler than usual, almost like that of a dead elf. And his eyes had become pure white, no longer home to a whirling cloud of battling forces of dark and bright colors.

The most noticeable thing, however, was the complete absence of his previously numerous and fatal wounds.

Not so much as a _scar _or tinted _skin _remained and he found himself pondering how many special abilities this person _had_.

The man's mouth turned upward slightly, and a small, satisfied smile was formed.

"What are you feeling so uplifted for? In a space this bright I'll be able to see your shadows appear as if they were neon lights."

Ritorno's smile didn't falter as he spoke.

"You lose, half-demon."

Any irritation he could have felt at the term "half-demon" was overcome by his distaste for the word "lose".

"What do you mean?" He asked, not in the mood for jokes.

His enemy allowed the sword to spin down through his fingers until its blade pointed at the floor.

Then he waved it slowly back and forth, the black blade moving like a pendulum on a-

"Damnit." Vergil thought out loud.

"You understand now, do you? You may be capable of _killing _me. _Maybe_. But with my wounds healed even if you _could _there is _still _no way you will be able to save that wench of yours. Add to _that_, you don't have any _assistance _this time."

He felt himself scowl again.

"Then I'll just have to kill you before I run out of time if I want to save her."

Ritorno's smile grew bigger.

"You _can't_. She has little more than two minutes left to live, and this Cielovolo(Heaven Cloud) lasts for an entire minute _itself_. And you can't hurt me the whole time it's active."

Vergil's hands trembled in rage as he glared at the man who had seemingly made it his life mission to take things away from him.

"The only things that can make this power deactivate are when it reaches its _limit_, or when _you _are _dead_. Those are the only things that can stop it, and _both _result in you failing your mission."

A million thoughts raced through his mind, a million different plans, strategies and tactics, but none of them seemed to make any sense. At the very least not in this environment with the time handicap.

"And allow me, before I kill you, to clear up something." Ritorno spoke again, drawing Vergil's glare once again.

"There is no such thing as _deserving _judgment in _real _life. That is only the delusion of opinionated fools who like to dish it out. The _only _things that make _any _true effect on life is _power _and _resolve_. Things I believe you once held higher than some bat bitch."

He winced at such a name for Diva.

"If you'd had the resolve to attack me sooner than you did, there would have been _four _people trying to kill me five minutes ago instead of _two_. And if you had possessed the _resolve _to fight despite your weakened condition, your brother and friends wouldn't have been hurt as badly and that child whore wouldn't have been used as she was."

Vergil felt his scowl deepen into a feral snarl.

"Yet, being in the world of humans you once despised, you've allowed yourself to succumb to the very weakness you once fought against; humanity. And your 'humane' approach to this battle that has only been going on for two days, is the exact reason that girl, her sister and your _brother _are going to die."

He looked down at the ground, feeling his hate boil over, almost becoming a physical feeling, as it rushed out from every pore of his body.

"You're right." Vergil spoke, his throat burning to say such a thing.

"Humanity is _useless _when in battle. It does nothing but get in the way. Which _means_…" He began, snapping his head up and glaring at the man, feeling his body explode with power.

"You'll have to deal with a _demon's madness _as your opponent from now on!" He roared as his body exploded with energy, his skin darkening and his hair becoming sharper as his eyes glowed yellow, tinged with red."

"I promised her I would never devil-trigger again. And I _won't_. But that doesn't mean I can't use its power to tear you into a bloody feast." He announced, pulling loose and off the tie on his black suit.

"And there's one thing _you _should know, _Ritorno_." Vergil continued as he allowed the dress jacket to fall off his shoulders and tore the dress shirt off, revealing a royal blue t-shirt beneath it.

"The reason I'm going to win is because I'm fighting with and _for _someone other than _myself_! A selfish bastard like _you _will never have any more power than you _alone _can possess!"

With that his body transformed, avoiding a demonic form but sending torrents of power through his body.

"**Thirty-five seconds. **_**That's **_**how much time is left for your ability to remain in effect. One minute and **_**eleven**_** seconds is how long until she succumbs to your **_**taint**_**. That's thirty-**_**six **_**seconds of clearance time. **_**More **_**than enough."**

Vergil launched himself across the space, swinging and clawing at the man with sword and hands as if he were an animal with a weapon affixed to a paw.

There was no opportunity for Ritorno to disappear and numerous times Vergil's blade raked across the barrier to the man's body.

This "heaven cloud" was only bittersweet, and it allowed the weak little man just enough time to realize his inevitable approaching death, before it would disappear.

Vergil brought back his sword, and swung it at his enemy's head-

-and felt something pierce him through the heart.

The animosity vanished from his eyes, as did the power from his veins, sucked away by some sort of force, as he dropped his blade into the stone floor and the "heaven" cloud receded.

"Twenty _three_ seconds. Twelve seconds of clearance until my cloud would have disappeared, and forty eight seconds of clearance until your whore will _die_." The wielder of the sword told him, stabbing it through him even more.

"And please _allow _me to inform you. The thing that is unique about the way the person dies is that their body remains, completely suspended in time. In the following years I will find _great _pleasure tearing yours and your brother's bodies apart and using that whore and her _sister's _bodies for _my _entertainment. Damage dummies and sex dolls; that's all the four of you will amount to."

"_Respectively_, of _course_."

A smirk formed, just like when _Dante _had been stabbed.

Strange… this time there wasn't a second one that followed it.

* * *

Those expecting sequels may or may not be disappointed.


	71. Death and Life

"Do you feel any better? Knowing that she won't die until _after _you do?" The man asked him rhetorically, pulling back the sword.

Vergil's hands twitched, and then one flew up and grabbed the guard of the weapon.

"You were right." He spoke, his voice hollow.

"Power _is _all that matters. All of the ideological fools in the world that think that being obsessed with power is _evil_… don't know anything. Power is what enables you to do something, and it isn't always something violent."

His hands and feet felt cold, as if he were in a harsh cold climate and his body was abandoning the outlying parts to save the internal organs.

"But though it's immaterial, there is _one _thing that directly affects someone's _usage _of power; cause. Someone who is selfish, and seeks power for only _themselves_, eventually accrue so much power that they are feared by all others and are brought down, regardless of how difficult it is to do so. That, you can be _sure_, is something that will happen to you."

He pulled himself up from his aching knees, standing again, but slouched over.

"But those who seek power to protect themselves and the things that they _care _about, are the polar _opposite_ of you. I used to be the way you are now, and the only thing that lies at the end of the that path is a lonely death begged for throughout your entire life. I would have fought and fought and fought over and over again until eventually I found someone who was stronger than I was, and I would have been cut down."

The man tried to pull the sword back once more, but Vergil held it still, despite the growing numbness in his hands.

"But _I _have people who _care_ about me. People who are willing to put their lives at _risk _for me. And I would do the same for them. That's what matters _more _than power!" He declared, standing up straight and kicking the man in the ribs to force him to let go of his weapon, leaving the thing in Vergil's hand and chest.

"How you _use _it."

It was a simpler thing than his explanation, but it couldn't have been any more true.

The half-demon, with no sound of pain, pulled the blade from his chest with his hands and tossed it up into the air, allowing it to spin and for the hilt to land in his blackening hand.

"Might controls _everything_. And without strength you cannot protect _anything_…"

Images of Dante, Saya, Lady, Haji, his mother and…Diva, passed through his mind.

"Let alone those that you care about!" He yelled before stabbing Ritorno through the empty cavity that would hold a heart.

Blood spilt from the man's mouth as he scowled at Vergil, whose expression was filled solemnity.

Vergil had nothing else to say, and threw the man, sword and all, up in front of the hole, and Enzeru.

He counted the seconds, there were twenty four left.

After five of those seconds had passed, Ritorno burst up from the stone pedestal, standing up and pulling the sword from his chest.

"This isn't over! You… _cannot_-"

Vergil picked up his sword and brought it back, preparing to swing it, but Ritorno threw his own, knocking the blade from Vergil's grip and leaving them both weaponless.

"You can't kill me with your bare hands before she runs out of time. You lose!"

Vergil stared straight ahead at the man.

"Don't forget, Ritorno, I've been 'tainted' by humans. My pride isn't what it used to be."

His sword arm was completely black now, and he reached it behind his back to pull out something and clicked the safety off, aiming Ebony at the man's head.

Four.

Three.

Two.

"Jackpot."

Then he fired, and the man's head bounced backwards, his body slowly falling until it descended into the hole Enzeru had emerged from not ten minutes ago.

It fell into some sort of liquid, and a loud splash could be heard, then… there was nothing else.

Vergil brought his arm up and stared at the black thing.

Slowly he felt the coldness and numbness of his entire body sink away as the tint of his arm slowly descended from shoulder to fingertips, back to pale white.

When the last of the feeling in his body returned to him he glanced at Dante, noticing no darkness in his tone, then Saya. The same.

He gave a mental nod, and then looking up at Enzeru, his chest wound already healed.

"So, how about it? Is this the part where _you _try to kill _me _for killing _him_?"

Enzeru was frowning, something rare.

"I suppose. Since _you _killed _me_ and Ritorno didn't succeed in killing _you_, I suppose there's still a death to make up for."

Vergil glanced down at his sword.

"But then _again_, he _almost _killed you _twice_ as well as the other three. So I guess that means I have to save you one and a half times." The man spoke, regaining his grin as the throne closed over the throne and he walked off the pedestal and down the steps.

"That won't be necessary." Vergil responded, no longer paying attention to the weapon.

As Enzeru reached the bottom of the steps Vergil felt an itch in his legs, knowing what it meant.

"Don't worry, I won't hold you up from going to check on her. To be honest, I'm glad you turned out to be this way. It's the complete opposite of the way I saw you _last _time."

"I was going through a phase." He responded dryly, causing Enzeru to chuckle.

"I see. Well, I'll leave you carrying everyone home then." Enzeru told him while walking past the half-demon.

"What are you going to do now?" Vergil asked him, the man coming to a stop not a foot from him.

"I'm not sure. It's been a very long time since I lived in the human world, perhaps I'll just try to go it alone, _without _taking it over."

"That's probably a wise decision."

Enzeru made an amused sound as he walked away.

Vergil heard two, three more steps, and then he was gone.

* * *

There was a feeling of movement, as the girl regained herself, her eyes still closed.

Something was holding her up, carrying her, and she noticed that it was a feeling she didn't recall having before.

The girl's eyes opened very slowly, as if afraid to look at the world.

It wasn't until they began to that the girl realized she shouldn't have woken up again _ever_.

The only thing she saw was a big tunnel ceiling; something she didn't remember seeing before.

However, as her eyes opened fully she saw someone's head, the head of the person who was carrying her.

The girl's lips opened, but no sound came out, instead, she felt tears coming down from her eyes.

As the man realized she was awake, he looked down at her, his eyes looking like those of a puppy that knocked over a glass of water.

Her lungs worked again, and she spoke.

"Vergil." Came the beautiful word out of her mouth and she tried to sit up in his arms.

"Rest a bit longer, we've still got a ways to go."

Nevertheless she sat up and hooked her hands around his neck, setting her head against his chest and listening to his heart beat, as if searching for more proof this was real.

"You came back." She whispered into his chest.

Diva heard it flutter for a moment, and her smile deepened.

"I did." He responded, still sounding a bit upset.

Her smile lessened at that, but it didn't go away. Nothing could make it go away now.

"What about Saya and Dante?" She asked.

"That's _Dante_ and _Saya_!" Diva heard someone "correct" her quite a way behind them.

"They're both fine." Vergil told her.

She heard his boots crunching against the rocky ground as he walked and for some reason it sounded like water coming down from a calming waterfall to her.

"So, what happened?" Diva asked him after several minutes of simply lying against his chest.

He sighed for some reason before responding.

"When I went out last time, I came upon a couple of people; three of the members of the group that was here. One that controlled fire, another that controlled water, and a third that could make lightning come down from the sky."

"Mmm. Sound like you got it easy." She teased sarcastically.

"Well, eventually I managed to gain the upper hand. But then… _he_ appeared and stabbed me with that sword. After that, a policeman showed up at shot at him, but was struck down. He got a hold of Yamato and tried to use it to defend himself, but since he had no power himself the man was killed, and his life force was sucked from him by that special ability. I used my summoned swords to blow up a vehicle nearby me and used the explosion to escape. But I was too weak to fight and I knew that he would come after you as well if I went back to Devil May Cry."

She remembered the need to slap him, but decided to hold it off for now.

"I would have protected you." She stated, though it was muffle since it was spoken into his chest again.

"…I know. But I didn't want to put you in danger."

Her smile got bigger again.

"Dummy."

"After I found something that would hide my identity I discovered my own sword and went back to Devil May Cry."

"So _you _were the guy who kept coming back to see us."

"Yes. It was very difficult to pretend I was bonded to Saya like that, but I required something that would give me some clout."

"Don't worry about it. But how did you learn about Nero so early?"

"I… eavesdropped on some conversations and I heard the name mentioned. It sounded like he was a high-ranking person in the group and normal in terms of size and weight, so I took the identity."

Diva allowed herself to loosen up and was soon leaning against Vergil's chest more than holding herself up against it.

"Vergil, can we sleep once we get home? I'm really tired."

His arms tightened around her, protecting her.

"Sure. You may want to take off the coat though beforehand."

Diva shrugged, her arms unhooking themselves and coming down before she placed one of her hands against his chest as well.

As she remembered, however, that there was nothing _on_ under the coat due to her "outfit" disappearing once she lost the sword, Diva took the opening.

"Oh? You want me to lie in bed with you with nothing on? She teased.

That was what it took to knock him out of his "thing".

"Of _course not_!" He said just under a yell.

She giggled sleepily at his response, but his angry expression soon become troubled again and she realized he must have felt extra bad about something for the feeling to return so quickly.

"What is it?" Diva asked him, noticing how he seemed to look away from her when she asked the question.

"I'm… sorry." He spoke in a whisper.

Her smile vanished and she looked up at him.

"What do you mean, silly? You came back." She tried to reassure him.

"If I had stepped in to save you in the coliseum you wouldn't have had to go through all that."

Diva felt her smile coming back and reached up, moving his face to look at her.

"You came when I really needed you. That's what matters to me."

Despite what she had to say, it didn't seem to make him feel any better.

"There's something _else isn't _there?"

He looked forward and away from her again, taking several moments to respond.

"I know what happened. One thing in particular." He spoke, it seeming hard enough to simply _reference _what he was talking about.

Her eyes widened and her smile disappeared again as she dug her head into his chest.

"Oh…"

Neither of them spoke for several minutes and a "spotlight" came down through a hole in the ceiling, signaling they were reaching the place where they would have jump up to in order to leave.

"Um, don't worry about it. I know you didn't let that happen to me on purpose."

He closed his eyes as he stepped them up into the light.

"That… is no excuse for my allowing it to happen to begin with. Whether I did so intentionally or _not_. Please, forgive me."

She felt her eyes begin to tear up and thrust her head into his chest again.

"Stupid."

Soon they were in the air and she felt them flash up to whatever floor lay above them, landing in a hallway.

Neither of them spoke as Dante hurled Saya through the trapdoor in the floor and then came up himself, the four of them ready to leave this place behind them.


	72. Amends

He lay Diva down on the couch, the girl already fast asleep, as Dante and Saya came in through the shop door behind them.

As they did, Saya noticed a man sitting patiently in a wooden chair, setting a large instrument and its bow back into a case.

"Haji!" She spoke as if discovering something important she had left behind after going on a long trip.

He walked over to her, the girl hugging him as she reached the man, causing a surprised expression to blossom onto his face.

Vergil looked away from them and back down at Diva, who's shorter limbs were covered by the long sleeves of Dante's coat, the ends of the sleeves drooping down and making her look more like a small child than anything else.

Dante came up by Vergil and he began to turn around to face his brother, but before he could turn about he felt a small hand grasp his wrist and looked back down, seeing one of Diva's hands sticking out of its sleeve and holding onto him, despite the fact the girl still hadn't woken up.

He felt himself smile as he reached one of his own hands down, brushing a bang away from her face-

"Agh!" Vergil grunted out as a gigantic bear hug enveloped him from behind and threatened to crush the man to death.

"Welcome home, bro!" Dante said before landing his twin on the floor, his legs absorbing the shock as he did so.

Vergil tightened a fist and reared around, swinging it at Dante, who backed away, chuckling.

"You'll _pay _for that."

His brother grinned at him and Vergil soon found himself incapable of scowling, chuckling a bit himself.

Soon they sat down on separate couches and both Saya and Haji came over as well.

"Where'd Lady go?" Dante asked Haji, seeing as he was the only person in the room who had stayed here with her.

"I believe she said she was going to go buy some plastic explosives if the three of you were unable to defeat your enemies. Somehow she seemed to discover where their place of residence was."

One of Dante's eyebrows rose.

"What? How'd she figure _that _out?"

Before Haji could tell Dante he didn't know Vergil responded, giving him the answer.

"She followed us when we went there the second time."

His brother's gaze snapped back to him.

"If you knew she was tailing us, why didn't you tell us so we could try and lose her?"

Vergil closed his eyes and exhaled.

"I didn't think she would be foolish enough to try and fight alongside us, I was fairly sure she would do what she _decided _to do. As hard as it would have been to fail, it was comforting to know that if we _did _at the very least we wouldn't have 'lost'."

"And what would you've done if she _had _tried to fight with us?" Dante probed further.

"You know, as difficult as it is for me to say this, I think I like the "I don't care, let's kill them all" version of you that doesn't care about 'whys'."

Dante shrugged and leaned back in his couch.

"Fine. Fair enough."

In the following hour Vergil told them essentially what he'd told _Diva_, only with more detail than she would have cared to hear as they waited for Lady to return.

However, when they heard the door open, a small bell jingling as it did so, it as not _her _that walked into the shop, but a man that both Vergil and Dante recognized, a person accompanied with a long mane of black hair and a not-so-shifty-as-usual grin.

Enzeru had apparently found something worth some money as he was wearing new clothes; grey pants once again, but a regular black t-shirt and boots being the only things accompanying them.

When Saya saw him, she looked like she had seen a ghost for a moment.

Then Vergil realized she hadn't seen Enzeru emerge from the hole in that "throne", so there as no reason to expect she _wouldn't _think that the man who just walked into the shop was Ritorno, as a slight age difference was the only easily visible variance between the two.

"No it isn't who you think it is." Vergil told her before she could summon the question.

"That being said…" He spoke while standing up, Dante accompanying him.

"What are you doing here, Enzeru? I thought you said the feud between us was over."

The man chuckled light-heartedly before taking a few steps forward, his arms at his side and pointing out like he was saying "I-don't-know".

"Oh, it is. What, I can't just stop by to talk to my best buddy?"

"What are you talking about? Aside from at that hotel the last time we saw each other we were fighting to the death."

"Well, that's no reason to abandon a friendship now is it?"

"Hey, you, I don't know what's going on between you two, but where'd you get the new clothes? Unless you had a wallet hidden somewhere in those rags I don't see how you could've gotten the new threads without killing someone."

Enzeru momentarily shifted his attention to Dante, getting an even more playful expression on his face.

"I'm shocked! Do you actually believe I would…_kill _someone, for personal _gain_?!"

Dante scoffed in response.

"You bet your _ass _I do."

He chuckled after Dante's retort.

"Haha. No. I actually just grabbed some money from what I assume used to be a gambling room…one of you did pretty bad at the slots _didn't _you? The whole place was chopped to ribbons."

Saya blushed momentarily out of embarrassment as Dante shifted uncomfortably in his couch.

"So why are you here? This _is _my place after all, even if it's pretty much a friggin' _hotel_."

"Ring, ring. Do you have a vacancy?"

"'fraid not. We used to have a glowing neon sign but someone messed up the front of my shop; one of your _brother's _boys I think it was."

Enzeru shrugged.

"What can you do? Anyway, I'm here for quite a specific reason." As he spoke the second sentence the man's gaze refocused on Vergil and he felt the man was getting as close as he _would _to being serious.

"And what is that?" Vergil asked him.

Their eyes met, and even _Enzeru _couldn't hide whether or not he was being serious when their gazes locked.

"I got a lot of power when I was brought back. I'm not sure if it was that stuff I was 'sleeping' in or the energy from the weapons themselves. But either way it's more strength than I had when I was at my best back in the demon world."

Vergil's eyes narrowed.

"What exactly is your point?"

"I'm already feeling the urge grow; to start fighting again. But this is neither the world nor the era to begin fighting upon a whim. However, I would prefer not spending the extent of my self-discipline keeping myself from attacking every strong person I come came across."

Vergil sighed.

"You still haven't told me what that means."

Enzeru took a breath.

"Alright, then. How about I use up that power… making all of this like it never happened?"

He felt his eyes narrow again, but this time in puzzlement.

"What do you mean 'make it like it never happened'?"

"I mean exactly what I said. It's the kind of power you gain once you reach a certain level. I recall the reason for your 'defeat' in France was because you became so powerful that you froze your own space. What I would do would be similar to that, though it would be like reverting time."

Vergil pushed himself back in the couch, still looking into the man's eyes.

He wasn't lying.

"I was unaware you had such power."

Enzeru chuckled again.

"Well, it'll be a one-time thing. And I can't make you go back to the age of braces and acne, but a day or so… I have that in me."

"And why would you be feeling so charitable? Especially when you're stronger than ever? If that's so, it seems like trying to get rid of us would be a higher priority for you."

The man shook his head as he walked away, staring out the windows of Devil May Cry.

"You don't know this, but the real reason I was after the power in that dagger was because I wished to bring someone back to life, someone I lost a very long time ago. When I fought you that last time, it was because I feared you would become exactly as _I _had; a meaningless existence which contained nothing but the instinct to fight."

As Enzeru "spoke his piece" Vergil noticed he looked more "human" as he went on.

"And you did. But, it seems you overcame that and found something worth living for. In essence, when you killed me it was somewhat of a mercy killing."

Then the man turned around and faced him, not grinning.

"But then Ritorno attacked you, for more reasons than simply to bring me back. He destroyed that happy life you had tried to create. He battered away at the humanity you'd fought to get back. He punished you… for changing from that path of instinct. And _that _I wouldn't have agreed with."

Even _Dante _sat forward, paying deep attention to what he had to say as the man walked across the creaky floorboards which echoed the time that had passed, though his youthful appearance misled it.

"Then he went several steps _further_; attacking your brother and the other people you cared about, at first to take their weapons, but then simply to hurt something that mattered to you. It was no longer to "get even" it was simply cruelty. And… of all the things that happened… what happened to _her_…" He spoke, gesturing towards Diva's sleeping form.

"…was by far the most atrocious act he conspired with. It is because of _that _that wish to make this all revert back to the way it was before your first encounter with them. The specifics of how I will remain in this world are, to be quite honest, a little too complicated for my brain to handle. But all you should know is that these things that have happened to your group will no longer have transpired."

Vergil intertwined his hands, thinking for a few moments.

He looked at Saya. She nodded.

He looked at Dante. He nodded too.

"What do you need to do to make this happen?"

Enzeru smiled, bringing up a hand.

"You want me to do it?"

Vergil nodded.

"Yes."

His smile got bigger.

"That's all I needed."

The man snapped his fingers, and then the world went black.


	73. Another everyday morning

Ah, Avarenda, ye of little faith. You shall see.

* * *

"Damned alarm clock." He remarked as the thing woke him up again.

"I can synchronize demon energy into myself, turn _into_ a demon, and accomplish feats you only see in Hollywood movies without a bead of sweat. Yet I can't figure out why this damn little box keeps turning on and making noise when I never even _set _it!" He grumbled loudly.

The room wasn't exactly the most bolstering thing to see in the morning; the mediocre size didn't speak of taste in housing or in richness. In fact, it said that you were _cheap_ and that you had _bad _taste!

"Luckily for me, _I'm _not the one who bought this place." Vergil told himself, trying to get

some satisfaction out of the situation.

It was the end of the Summer so the temperature was finally lowering a bit, a good thing, as there was no practical or economically-sound way to keep the whole building normal during hot or cold conditions.

"I'm just lucky Diva has a decent endurance and taste for heat, otherwise she would be running around nude." He complained out loud at the room despite there obviously wasn't anyone there.

"She _would _to." Vergil continued, thinking about what he would do today.

"_Who _would?" A mischievous voice asked him from his left side, causing him to whip his gaze in the voice's direction and back away a bit all in one response.

This, unfortunately, resulted in him falling off the bed and colliding with the hard floor below.

"Argh!" The half-demon let out, one more thing to worry about mere minutes from his awakening.

"Diva, why do you always insist on trying to surprise me in the morning?" He remarked while pushing off the ground, performing a handstand before flipping forward and landing gracefully upright.

"You're such a show-off. And… I don't _try_…_do _I? It seemed like I succeeded." The happy girl told him with her usual annoyingly carefree tone.

Vergil felt himself grin, despite himself, and he faced her.

"How did you get in here?" He repeated, pretending like he was still angry.

Her smile looked happy, like always.

"That...girl" He thought affectionately while walking over to the small closet of the room and opening the cheap, balsa-wood door to it.

She lay on his bed and curled up on it, her long black hair spread across the thing as if claiming it was _hers _now. The perfectly white dress and pale skin contrasting the blue black of her silky mane.

"I'm not telling you." She responded cheerily, her eyes closed.

"Of course not." Vergil commented while pulling a long blue shirt from a clothes hanger and sliding it on.

"You never do. Get off my bed, would you? That fragrance of yours makes me too sleepy when I'm on it. You have your own anyway."

The sun and the particles floating through the air almost made it seem as if fairies were flying around above her head, as _windows _were not lacking in this room; they stretched across a whole wall of the second floor bedroom.

"Yes…but there's something _wrong _with that one."

One of his eyebrows rose in curiosity as he finished buttoning the shirt up, though allowing the amulet around his neck to show by leaving a few open.

"Is that so? What?"

The lids opened, revealing eyes that were too blue to belong to a human; the pure hue visible even with them slightly showing beneath her mostly closed eyelids.

"You're not there."

He felt himself smile, though subtly, in response and turned towards the door.

"So explain why you go out of your way to head up to the second floor storage area in the shop area and then leap from it just to land on and crush me; with your whole twenty pounds of body weight."

She gave a pleased expression at his "compliment".

"I'm training you to catch me. One of these days _I'm _going to be the person who falls from somewhere high up, and you'd _better _catch me boy."

Vergil frowned.

"'boy'? And what would you do if I _didn't _catch you, _girl_?"

Diva giggled while pushing herself across the bed, as far as she could towards Vergil.

"I'll give you the biggest, loudest smooch this world has ever seen. _Then_ you'll be sorry."

Vergil began walking towards the door, "escaping", when there was a strange sound and a blue flash flew past him.

"So, you'd like to play this game again, hm?" He asked at how she had gotten in his way so that they would have to stay together.

"Yes…what do you plan on doing to escape, dear?"

He thought it over. Every once in a while she would do this; placing herself in front of his method of leaving the room until he did something that would allow him to pass.

Vergil had managed to get out through a window once, but it hadn't worked since.

The man thought for almost a full minute before coming up with something, and he took a soft step forward.

"I've got _something _in mind." He spoke to her softly, causing her mischievous grin to lessen, gaining curiosity in its expression.

One of his hands found its way to a shoulder of hers and the other one lifted up her chin.

Her eyes widened just a moment before he leaned forward and kissed her, tightening his hand on her shoulder.

Diva kissed back and deepened it.

The kiss was maintained for several seconds before he backed away, looking at the blushing girl with a smile.

"There. Is that enough?" He asked her quietly.

She was unable to answer and only stared forward, still blushing.

He grinned and tossed the girl, yelping, over his shoulder and onto his bed to land softly.

"Glad to hear it." Vergil spoke, the softness in his tone gone and she thrashed around in the bed at her "failure".

"I guess that little trick you use on me works fine on you _too_." He remarked while leaving the room, hearing Diva throw the blankets and pillows about in her tantrum.

He had won.

A small laugh came from him as he closed the door behind him.

The hallway on the second floor was narrow to say the least, people having to walk horizontally if they were trying to go in opposite directions at the same time.

Dante's and Lady's bedrooms were on the first floor, while Saya and Haji's, Diva's and Vergil's rooms were on the second story.

The floor of the hallway, though hardwood, was old and there was no way to tell if it, or the ceiling, or the walls, would come crashing down any minute, or last until the end of time.

A short stretch of a staircase joined the stories, even though it was just as narrow as the thin hallway.

There were two bathrooms, one per floor, the two designated either the "girl's" bathroom or the "boy's" bathroom, it having been decided by majority vote.

Lady had called for the vote and wanted the two genders separated based on that, Dante countering it and saying it shouldn't matter, followed by Saya who said that she didn't want to intrude, Haji not giving a vote since chevaliers usually didn't need to use bathrooms, Vergil saying he wanted his _own _bathroom and Diva voicing that she wanted to share one with him and have another one for herself as well, while the others could just use the dark alley beside the shop.

Dante had said that since no idea won, things should stay the way they were, with Lady telling him to shut up and that they should be separate.

Vergil walked down the stairs to the first floor and walked through the hallway down there before making it to the door that led to the front and office portion of the building, and heading through that.

The front of the shop had been remodeled somewhat thanks to Vergil's redecorations when he had come after Dante before, and now was more like a gigantic living room than an office.

Though it _was _still the room that "Devil May Cry" was run out of, so it had to remain somewhat the same.

Vergil walked over to one of the many expensive old-style couches and sat down on it.

"Dante's money situation might not be so tight if he cold learn how to spend well.

Hundreds of dollars for one old couch and other furniture each, but only a few dozen for

food and other things." Vergil thought to himself as he heard Diva "fake-stamp" her way down the stairs and then over to his couch, giving him a pouting glare.

He felt himself grin as he looked around her, pretending to see something past the girl.

Diva was many things, but above most of them she was _curious_. And it had never failed to work on her.

As expected the girl became interested in whatever he was looking at and turned around-

-just in time to have two hands hook around her stomach and pull the once-again-surprised girl down to the couch with him.

She struggled to escape from is grip for a few moments but soon relented and turned about, instead draping herself on top of him and hugging him as if he were a teddy bear.

It was strange, after Diva stopped feeding on people, Saya had started actually being nice to her. At first there was still the edginess, but everyone's, except for Vergil and Diva's, worries that he might turn back into how he was before should a situation arise, kept the conflicts that the twin sisters had to a bare minimum.

Still, the brown-eyed one had asked to stay here, since there was an extra bedroom. To

keep an eye on Diva at first, but she seemed to have grown to enjoy it after a while.

"It just goes to show, given enough time Diva can win _anyone _over." Vergil thought to himself while looking over towards the front door.

Because of his heightened senses, he could see all the way down the road in front of the shop, since the rubble from when Temen-Ni-Gru rose up before had been cleared.

The front portion of Devil May Cry had been "repaired" since Enzeru did his little magical spell or whatever it was, but he hoped that he would be able to see the man again, to ask about the specifics of what he'd done.

No one had come back to attack them since the "time" thing had been done and Vergil had been thinking about what would happen as a result of reverting time to the way it had been.

"Wouldn't that mean when he went to do the job today that he would just run into Kuroihando again? And then, later on, that this whole mess would simply start over?"

That was the primary question he had asked since he remembered what "hadn't happened". It was painful enough on the brain to remember things like that happening, and yet _not _happening. But it was the unanswered questions that he had which made it all the harder.

But there was only one way to find out if all Enzeru had done was reset things, and that was to go and do the job in the warehouse.

Dante wouldn't be up for another few hours, but that didn't mean he himself couldn't get started on the day's assignment. And it was bugging him about what Enzeru had done. If nothing else, at the very least, they could learn if it _had _just brought them back and be aware of it before a larger battle ensued.

"Stay here. I'm going to go do the job we were given last night." He told her while trying to stand up.

The eyes drifted open.

"What's that?" She spoke to him sleepily, despite the fact she was always taking naps.

"Some man who owns a warehouse in the city said that he saw what looked like a thin, grey person with a scythe walking around in some kind of robe. He didn't saw what color it was, but it doesn't matter. Any of the "hells" won't take more than a few seconds once I find them."

She rolled over, now sitting up right next to him on the couch.

"You're leaving something _out _though, _aren't _you?." Diva asked him in a more serious tone than usual.

He sighed, having hoped she would allow him to go alone.

"Don't worry, I'll be more careful this time."

"And you think I'll let you go alone just like that _do _you?" She spoke, teasing him a bit now.

"Look, I don't want you to be in any danger-"

"I'm _going with _you, Vergil. Sorry, dear, but no kiss in the world is going to keep me from going with you."

Vergil sighed again.

"Alright. But let me go in first, okay?"

She smiled again and stood up.

"Okay. Let's go then, Vergil."

He smiled as well and stood up.

Vergil walked back towards Dante's desk and stuck his hand beneath the "leg" part of the desk, and pulled the key from its magnetic holder and used it to unlock one of the weapon cases.

Like all of the other furniture and decorations of the shop, it was real wood, not the industrialized knock-off kind, and felt solid as he pulled the two "doors" open and- saw that Yamato wasn't there.

"Damn." He spoke under his breath, guessing that was one of the things that hadn't been changed.

"What is it?" Diva asked him coyly from behind.

"Yamato… it's not there."

He heard her shrug.

"Oh well. You don't need a silly sword when _I'm _with you."

Vergil suppressed his anger, and closed the doors and locked them before placing the key back in its place.

"Yeah…you're right." He spoke barely above a whisper while walking past her.

Continuing across the office floor until he reached the double-doors, Vergil looked behind him, looking at the weapons case once more before he felt a smaller hand hold his own.

Vergil looked down at Diva, who smiled up at him.

He nodded, and they left the shop.

* * *

Nay, this is not the last chapter


	74. Now you see them, now you don't

"Thank god you've arrived!" The man said as Vergil and Diva, evidently, arrived at the warehouse.

It was an extremely scummy part of the city and though he wasn't worried at all about being mugged or killed he _did_ intend on wearing his clothes and shoes more than once; something getting mold on them would interfere with. And Diva would most likely try to make him clean her shoes and dress if _they _got dirty so that was yet another deterrent.

"Um, are you sure a young girl should be with you when you do this?" The man asked him, talking about Diva, who just gave him a big smile.

"She'll be fine." He spoke unenthusiastically, thinking of how ridiculous it would be for Diva to get hurt by a single lowly demon.

"The…person, that you saw before. The intruder, do you remember what color the thing it was wearing was?" Vergil asked as the owner fiddled with the lock to the warehouse door.

It was mid-day, yet because of the heavy clouds and the high warehouse buildings only a small amount of light made it in-between the spaces of the outside of the warehouse.

This wasn't really a problem, but it was the only thing around worth noting as the owner of this particular warehouse struggled to find the right key for the lock.

"I'm…not really sure. I mean the guy or whatever he is obviously is seriously messed up. I just wanted to get out of there as quickly as I could."

"Of course you did." Vergil responded, seeming to confuse the man, who obviously couldn't tell if it was an insult or an empty comment.

"Anyway, how are you planning to get that guy out of here? You didn't seem to bring a gun or anything with you, so-"

"I'll just smack him until he leaves." Diva spoke before Vergil could respond, causing him to growl and for her to giggle in response.

"Guns aren't my style. I've only used them twice. I'm perfectly capable of taking care of one enemy with my hands."

"Even with that big thing it was carrying around?" He asked, having found the right key and taken the lock and chain off the door.

"I'll save him." Diva remarked, hugging to Vergil's arm as he felt his mouth force a small grin onto his face.

"If I can't, just call someone else and let _them _take care of it. It isn't as if we ask for payment up front." Vergil spoke in a tone showing his absence of patience for the man. He wasn't stressed, but wanted to see how much things had been changed by Enzeru's "magic".

After all, if it turned out that the organization _wasn't _around, that meant that they wouldn't have any major battles in the near future.

The man strained to pull the door open and didn't seem to be making much progress.

"Damn it! It's the rain from last night, screwing with this crappy metal." He complained before Vergil sighed, pulled the man away and shoved the door open casually with a single hand.

"You stay here, we can't get paid for this if you get killed."

"Killed?"

Another sigh.

"Don't worry, we won't let you die until we get your money." Diva "reassured" him.

The man gaped as she giggled and they both walked into the dark warehouse and looked around with their heightened eyesight.

It was still difficult to see around, but the place seemed to be decently organized so there was nothing to worry about in terms of tripping. And Vergil trusted both his instincts and Diva's to tell them if the "sin" should try to sneak up on them.

"Pride, Lust, Envy, Sloth, Gluttony…it doesn't really matter _which _one it is. And it can't be a Wrath since those carry organic bombs, not scythes. Still, don't let your guard down." He told her before the girl walked forward quickly several yards and bent over, putting her hands out in front of her mouth.

"Hey! Demon and-or big jerky sunglasses man! Come out! I'm bored!" She spoke happily.

Sighing, Vergil slapped his face with a hand before running it down his face and walking over towards her.

As she spoke, though, Vergil saw the shadows near her and ran towards the both of them.

Suddenly a glistening scythe came down and reaped towards her. He just barely caught her mouth grinning as the girl caught the scythe in mid-air with a bare, pale hand. Vergil grinned as well as he picked up the pace and brought back a hand.

The half-demon reached the hell pride and the girl who held its weapon immobile and stomped one foot into the concrete floor, crunching it under foot as the other leg and arm leapt forth and he used both legs to stabilize himself as the hand erupted into the demon's head, blowing it and the rest of its body away and into sand.

Diva looked at him, still grinning, as the scythe turned to sand as well and her hand came down.

She took a few unnecessarily-sensual steps towards him and kissed him on the cheek.

"Why thank you, sir."

Instead of anger Vergil felt himself beginning to laugh and barely held it back as he once again went into "battle mode", looking around for any sign of Kuroihando.

At the very least he hadn't killed it before they got here, so that was _some _evidence that they hadn't come back with the time spell Enzeru had performed.

"Well, what do you think?" Diva asked him, looking around herself.

He continued scanning the gigantic, container-filled room, before he spotted something on the floor other than dust.

Vergil walked over to it, Diva coming with him since she'd once taken hold of one of his arms.

As they neared the thing in question Vergil spotted what it was; a pair of sunglasses.

His eyes narrowed as he bent down to pick the sunglasses up.

They were definitely the ones Kuroi had been wearing, but what did that mean? Was he actually around, or was this just Enzeru's way of showing them that the "Sword Seekers" or whatever they'd officially called themselves were no longer a threat?

"You missed something, hun."

He growled at the repeated use of pet-names, but noted that she was correct, there was some kind of small note held between the crossed "arms" of it.

Vergil plucked the note from its holding place and read it. The handwriting was very fine and articulate, like it came from someone who put more attention into making the letters look nice than getting the actual message across.

"~Vergil~

I hope it didn't take too long for you to find these, it being so dark in here and all. I'd like to think I know a bit about you and your personality so I imagine you've got some questions that require answering for that busy white-haired head of yours to get some rest.

I'm going to be at the bar by Devil May Cry for a few hours. If I'm right, and you want some answers, come and we'll chat. If not, please inform Dante that I am using his tab to pay for my drinks.

P.S. You can keep these shades for yourself if you'd like."

Vergil sighed as he finished reading the note and didn't even have to guess who'd written it to recognize the over-friendly yet mischievous lines.

Diva snatched the note from his hand, eager to read it as well. But he didn't really care, as he was finished with it anyway.

"Oooh. We're going to go talk to Enzeru, huh? Yay!"

He felt himself grin.

"You're too young to go into the bar." He told her, instantly causing the girl to swing her hands downward and pout.

"No fair! I looked like this when you were young enough for me to clean your diapers!"

Vergil refused to give in to anger and simply walked over to the exit of the warehouse, and to the non-dead owner, handing him the sunglasses.

"It's done. Here, these were on the floor." He spoke in passing as the man stumbled back and Diva stomped after him.

"W- wait! What about your payment!" The man called from behind.

"Just come to the shop later on today and drop it off. I've got something to take care of."


	75. Answers

It was already the evening.

Because Diva had been so adamant on coming with him it'd taken almost all day to get her to simply stay at Devil May Cry and wait for him to return.

"I suppose it's not unjustified though. She's only really been around me for a few hours since we rejoined one another last night and spent two days thinking I was dead." Vergil thought as he pulled open one of the doors that led to Bull's Eye, the bar just down the street from their shop.

One of the most important questions he had to _ask _Enzeru was if Diva remembered all of what happened. Because _he _sure did, and the main reason he had requested that Enzeru go through with his little spell was so that _she _would _forget _it.

"Or so it would be unmade. I still don't fully understand what he did." He thought to himself once again while scanning the bar for the familiar man.

It had gotten "repopulated" fairly quickly after the previous "demon tower" oriented incident, most likely the fastest one to regain its clientele.

The result of this was that most of the smoke-filled, old-wooded bar was inhabited by your regular variety of people and made it more difficult to see.

He walked through the small "isles" of chairs and tables before spotting a man sitting in a dark corner, alone, with a single empty seat open in front of him and what must have been at least twenty coasters, many of them holding empty beer glasses on top.

Suddenly he pulled something from a pocket and lit a lighter, lighting the end of the cigarette as he inhaled and blew out smoke into the air, a vague, tiny source of light coming from the embers in his cigarette.

"Well now, isn't that dramatic?" He asked the man while pulling out the chair in front of him and sitting in it.

Enzeru chuckled in response.

"Hey, _you're _the one who made me wait a whole day. I had to virtually max out Dante's tab in order for the staff to let me stay here.

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that." Vergil spoke sarcastically, causing Enzeru to chuckle again and put out his cigarette, despite the fact he'd just lit it.

"I wasn't aware you smoked." He remarked, uncharacteristically trying to go through some friendly formalities.

The man leaned back in his chair while shrugging.

"Not _everyone _you know is a _health nut_, Vergil." He spoke with his usual grin.

"Tell me that when you die of lung cancer."

"If I wanted to die of old age I'd sit in an empty room somewhere with nothing to do." He retorted, seeming more amused than before.

Vergil waved him off.

"So be it. Do as you please. But you _did _say that you would answer my questions so try to keep yourself from coughing up a lung long enough to do so."

His "friend" shook his head in amusement before responding.

"Fair enough."

He nodded and leaned forward a few inches.

"First off, how did you revert everything to the way it was before without, I assume, bringing that organization back? I thought you said it was akin to turning back time."

Enzeru looked away at something random that he was interested, Vergil not bothering to follow his gaze.

"Each and every one of those people are back… but not in their original forms. And… it _is _akin to turning back time, but it's not quite that simple. Not everything goes back as far."

Vergil's brow furrowed at his response as he heard a random drunk man at a bar stool complain about his wife not leaving him alone about cleaning up the garage.

"What do you mean 'original forms'? And by not everything goes back as far did you mean things like the hotel are the way they used to be while Yamato isn't?"

The man's attention came back to him as he heard a waitress come over to them.

"About _time _your friend showed up, hun. What'll you be having?" She spoke first to Enzeru and then asked Vergil.

"I'll have water."

"Honey, we don't _have _water. This is a _bar_. Mister _Enzo _seems to have gotten that."

The black haired person chuckled before repeating his name was "Enzeru".

"You must have a sink where you wash out the mugs or what have you. Just put some water in a clean mug and bring it here and charge me for a regular beer."

The waitress shook her head for a moment before writing it down in her little notebook.

"And how 'bout you?" She asked Enzeru in a slightly more positive tone.

"Um… what letter was I on?"

"It's gotta be your thousandth time around the block, but I think you're on 'L'."

He nodded.

"I'll have the most expensive lager you've got then."

She wrote that down as well before walking away and leaving the men to continue their conversation.

"What I mean is that Kuroi's "essence" became those sunglasses. Shiroi's might have become a blind preacher on a corner, Volutta may be a whore named "Candy" or "Lollipop", Incendio could be a fire in a basement, Mizu could be a dirty little puddle on the street… anything that's associated with their "theme" they could be. As for certain things going back different lengths of time, that's pretty much it, though Yamato should have simply turned up where it usually was, but broken."

Vergil sat back in his chair.

"You know an awful lot about everyone and every_thing _that's been around or going on in the past couple days for someone who just "woke up" last _night_."

"When he brought me back all of the things that Ritorno knew were transferred to me too. That's why I had to rest for a few minutes. It was a lot of stuff to sift through."

"So it's impossible that they showed up in their original forms with their original intentions?"

"Well, not _entirely_." Enzeru explained as the waitress came back over them and placed a coaster in front of Vergil before setting their drinks down in front of the two of them.

Enzeru thanked her before the woman walked away and took a sip of his lager.

He gave a satisfied exhale as he set it down on its coaster.

"But _understand_; the sheer number of possible ways for them to come back plus the different places it can _happen _means that the possibility of them coming back their original way somewhere up in the millions if not _billions_. So there's nothing to worry about."

Vergil nodded to himself, glad they wouldn't be forced to sleep for years with one eye open, at least not for any significant threat.

"Be careful though, though their _forms _are different there may still be some hostility in whatever they came back as."

He was confused again and took a sip of water.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, take that arrogant little queen for example. She might be some over-rich, over-educated, over-privileged nasty woman who will say something mean about one of you if she sees you on the street. Though it won't be anything dangerous prepare for a fierce taunting if one of their human forms spots any of you."

"I'm petrified." He responded stoically.

Once again Enzeru chuckled.

"Well you _should_ be. We wouldn't want Diva to get her _feelings _hurt now _would _we?"

At the mention of her name he set his glass of water down at bit louder than he'd intended.

"That's what I wanted to know about the most."

His grin lessened and became a barely upturned line.

"Does she remember what happened, you mean?"

He nodded.

"It's complicated… but basically she remembers everything but the… mature parts, and the details of why she wanted to kill Ritorno so much. That is, she forgot your supposed death. But if she had an epiphany or thought of a funny joke or something while all that was going on she'll remember that."

"So her fights…"

"She'll remember those. But not the feelings behind them. Same thing for Saya and Dante. You're the only one who remembers everything, except me of course. And, she won't remember that man Nero either."

Vergil was confused at that.

"Why not?"

The man shrugged.

"Well, I figured you'd want her to only care about _you_; her great shining knight." He spoke too sweetly and knowing it.

And Vergil felt himself grin.

"It looks like you still have a few things to learn, Enzeru. Though it may be due to your being in the demon world for so many years."

His companion seemed confused for the first time since he could remember meeting the man, but soon shrugged it off.

"I hope so. Life's no fun if there aren't any more things to experience."

He had to admit he agreed with that. Though fortunately he loved and got to be around someone who managed to make things interesting to experience all the time.

Dante was there too.

"Is that all you wished to know then, my friend?" Enzeru asked him as Vergil pushed his chair out.

"For now."

Enzeru nodded as he finished his lager up quickly.

The both of them heard the bartender pick up the phone at the bar and dial a few numbers and a few seconds later a yell of enormous proportions erupted from both the other end of the phone and a certain shop at the end of the street at the same time.

"Well I'd better be hitting the old dusty trail." Enzeru spoke, standing up quickly and feigning nervousness.

Vergil stood up normally and both of them pushed their chairs in beneath the table as they walked towards the exit.

"So where are you headed off too?" He asked the man as they reached the exit.

"I'm not sure, really. Maybe I'll stick around in this city for a while. _Perhaps_ I'll even start my _own _demon-exterminating business; give you guys some friendly competition."

Each of them opened a single double door while leaving the bar as Vergil wished him good luck in a neutral manner.

"Give my regards to Diva." He spoke while heading off away from the bar and Devil May Cry.

"What about _Dante_?" Vergil asked after him with some humor.

"Don't tell him which direction I left in."

Vergil felt himself grin as the man walked off and turned his head toward Dante's shop as the doors were kicked open and Dante came charging the street.

"Where is he?!" The half-demon yelled, not caring who heard him as Vergil walked calmly toward the shop his brother had just left from, knowing Enzeru must have disappeared already.

"Gone. Sorry." He apologized unenthusiastically.

"Damn! Dirty son of a -"

"I'm going back to the shop. Where's- agh!"

His sentence was cut off as something hurtled into him, knocking the man from his feet.

He brought back a hand to hit the thing, but lowered it when he saw a shorter, thin form with long black hair affixed to his torso.

"Diva. You did such a fine job of waiting for me to come back." He spoke semi-rhetorically.

She nodded regardless and allowed him to stand up, on the condition that she get to virtually weld herself to one of his arms.

He couldn't help but smile at her as they walked back to the shop, eventually followed by a swearing Dante whose anger subsided... with time.

"Hey, let's go and do something." Diva said with great enthusiasm.

"What?" Vergil asked her as they walked over to "their" couch and sat on it, everyone else somewhere in the front portion of the shop.

The girl shrugged.

"Something…" She repeated, leaving it up to him to decide the specifics of it.

He sat back in the couch, and began to think about where they could go that would be a suitable place to mark their return to their "normal" lifestyle.

* * *

The next chapter will most likely be the last one. If there are any more questions anyone had that they wanted answered please name them in a review so I can answer them in the next chapter or the one afterward(if there is one).


	76. For you

"How long until we get there?" Vergil asked in irritation to the driver.

"Aw, baby Vergil have an accident? What's your problem? It's like the nineteenth time you've complained about how long this is taking." Responded Dante; the driver.

"It's the third. And the only reason I've 'complained' at _all _is because we've been driving for two hours to get somewhere that should have taken less than _half _of _one_."

The car swerved and for a moment everyone, well, except _Diva_, who was too preoccupied with hugging on Vergil to notice or care, thought that Dante had lost control of the car.

In _reality _he'd simply done so to piss off Vergil.

It'd worked.

"Why don't _I _drive? You're going to crash us into a brick building the next time that happens."

"Fine, just let me park- oh _wait_! _You _don't have a _drivers license_!"

Vergil scowled at the remark.

"I've pursued other skills, Dante."

His brother nodded.

"And I'm sure that being able to chop things up ten-thousand more times than they need to would be very _useful _at Wendy's or somewhere like that. But right now it looks like _my _skill set's a bit more appropriate. Don't ya think?"

His hands clenched into fists as Lady tagged in.

"It's no just _Vergil_, Dante. There are _four _of us crammed into the back of car meant to hold _two_ people in the back! Either learn how to read a map or let _me _drive!"

One of his hands came away from the steering wheel and waved a finger back at her.

"Uh, uh, _uh_! That's only for _motorcycles_."

Saya sighed, her being the only person who'd been voted to sit in the front seat. And thus leading her to feel guilty about it due to everyone else's "suffering".

Neither Lady nor Haji had held any qualms with her doing so, though Diva had at first wanted to sit up front.

Vergil informed her that there was only room for one person in the front seat, since she never wanted to be _anywhere without _him, to which she responded that she could just sit on Vergil's lap.

After he said they shouldn't do that she suggested that _he _should sit on _her _lap… something he was even _less _inclined to do.

So here they were, all six of them driving to an expensive restaurant in an old, old, _old _sports car meant to seat only four people at maximum, wondering if Dante was purposefully driving around and avoiding the restaurant just to enjoy the ride.

"Wait, I think I see the place over there on the left." Saya remarked.

Dante's head didn't move but he seemed to be looking in that direction.

"Huh? Where?"

She pointed at a building which everyone else tried their best to follow.

"Oh, right."

"But haven't we already passed that place before?" Lady asked.

"Aw shut up. You didn't see it either." He remarked,, turning on his left turn signal while essentially catapulting across all the lanes and into the restaurant's parking lot, somehow managing to not hit anything as the car suddenly braked, squealing across the parking lot as it, surprisingly, slid into a parking space, smoothly stopping.

"Alright! Let's go get something to _eat_!" Dante announced like nothing strange had happened, pulling the keys out and leaving the car.

"How in the world did he get someone to give him a license to drive?" Vergil asked no one in particular.

"I think you get two chances before having to pay again… maybe the instructor just knew he would get to try again and didn't want to risk it." Lady answered back.

"Hey! You guys coming?!" Dante asked loudly while closing his door.

With an almost all-encompassing sigh everyone got out of the car and walked towards the entrance.

No one really paid attention to the environment outside or _inside _the bar, as they didn't really care.

Still, Vergil noticed the place was clean and it looked like the staff had everything under control.

Plus, to their fortune, there were very few people in the restaurant at this time. Not that anyone else really seemed to care, but it had always bothered Vergil when he was supposed to have fun around regular, random humans.

The waiter got the number of their "party" and led them to a table with enough chairs for them before handing out menus and getting their drink orders, leaving to get them as the decided what they wanted to eat.

Vergil, of course, was almost _sharing _a chair with Diva, who somehow, despite her small size, managed to inhabit both her chair and Vergil's.

"Diva, come on. Sit in your own chair." Saya tried to persuade her, seeming embarrassed that her twin was acting this way in a public place.

The girl just shrugged and Vergil didn't really mind all that much. Even though she was virtually _plastered _to him he'd "trained" her to at least stay off of what he was looking at so she never got in his way.

Of course… she only obliged with the "eyesight rule" when she _wanted _to.

The decision-making was pretty uneventful. Saya would occasionally say that a certain menu item sounded good, to which someone always replied positively. Though Haji began to sound like a waiter getting you a drink by saying "A fine choice" and its variants so many times Dante started to copy him.

Lady hit him upside the head and he stopped. If only for a minute.

"This is nice, _isn't _it?" Saya asked them all, almost completely at random.

"Eating together like this I mean."

Dante chuckled.

"What do ya mean? We do this all the time."

She nodded, looking down a bit.

"I know. But after what we went through…"

Vergil felt a sting in his mind at knowing that he was the only one who remembered what they had all _truly _went through.

"I'm just glad we can eat together again." She spoke, looking up and smiling.

No one was able to say anything negative about that and it left them all feeling better than before.

The mood lessened somewhat when the waiter returned, wondering what they wanted to eat.

"Ah, let's see, I'll have-"

"The most expensive thing in the house." Someone replaced him, Vergil noticing steps approaching him from behind before setting a chair down to his left, between him and Dante, and sat down.

"Oh, and a Bloody Mary too, please. It's just such a cool-sounding drink I've got to try it." Enzeru requested happily.

Dante's expression at Enzeru showing up no doubt made the waiter think he was an unwanted guest.

Though, in a certain way, he _was_.

"Don't worry about it." Vergil told the man.

"It's not a problem."

Enzeru nodded and the rest of them ordered, albeit with most of them showing their surprise and confusion behind their tones as they did so.

Dante sounded absolutely _pissed_ as _he _ordered _his _meal.

After the waiter took everyone's menu and left, Dante turned his chair towards the man.

"Hey, asshole, do you want to tell me how three-thousand dollars appeared on my tab at Bull's-eye?"

"No I sure don't." Enzeru responded, chuckling as he said it.

"You little-"

"Oh come, now. Think of it as a friendly gesture. Besides, you're so deep in debt, what does a few thousand count as?"

Vergil pushed himself back in his chair, raising an eyebrow.

"What's this? Are you a loan-shark now?"

The man waved his hands in the air as if afraid he was going to get beaten up by a bunch of bullies.

"No, no, no. I don't have the personality for that; hurting people over something so insignificant as money."

"You sure haven't kept up with the times, man." Dante told him.

"Oh, I caught up pretty quickly. Did you all know there's something called a _microwave_?! They're totally radically _hip _dude."

There was a silence.

"I'm still trying out the different slang words. There's just so many of them for me to tell what's tubular and what's not.

Despite herself, Saya found herself laughing with Diva's giggling at the man's use of severely "out" terms.

"Anyway, I just wanted to make sure everyone was alright, feeling good, didn't remember any traumatic experiences from yesterday… you know, the usual."

Vergil's eyes widened for a moment before narrowing back to normal, his anger boiling up from the forgotten depths into which it had receded during their happy little day.

"Enzeru…"

The man glanced at him, grinning.

"What is it, Vergil?"

As he was about to _say _what _it _was, Diva hugged him too tight and crushed the wind out of him.

"Please just get back in your seat." He responded, keeping the tone of anger in his voice as low as possible.

"How mean! To say that to a girl who got chopped up, captured, burnt, copied and been mean to! And to think I had an _epiphany_ for you! You're sleeping _alone _tonight!"

Saya's eyes opened as wide as Vergil's this time.

"…_what _did she just say?" She spoke, unnaturally calm.

"It's not what it sounds like." He tried to reason with her.

"Have you been-"

Small sounds interrupted her, pre-freak-out, which soon turned into full-blown laughing and giggling at ridiculous volumes.

Apparently, Enzeru shared the same affinity for practical jokes and strange humor as Diva did.

However, despite the now-humorous situation, Vergil pulled away from Diva for a second, grabbed Enzeru by the collar and pulled him down, the two still sitting in their chairs but now almost beneath the table.

"I thought you said I would be the only one able to remember." He spoke harshly but below a whisper.

"Hey, what can I tell you? She's not a strange girl."

Vergil's eyes narrowed.

"Um- that is… a _unique _girl." He spoke, feigning fear of Vergil's retaliation should he further mock Diva.

"Still, there's no way she remembers you-know-what."

"Hey! What are you two talking about down there?!" Dante asked them.

"Maybe they're kissing." Diva answered, causing Dante to chuckle.

"Ohhh! So _that's _why he keeps showing up when you're around!"

"Quiet, Dante. Go get me one of those video-recorder things you see on TV. I want to see this again and again." Diva responded, sounding serious despite the fact she was probably she barely restraining an outrageous giggle.

"Hey, yeah, how about we put it on you tube or something?"

His fist trembled as Vergil felt is fury burst at the back of his skull, separating from Enzeru, who seemed capable of taking the joke as he chuckled while sitting up.

"What were you talking about, when you were kissing him I mean?" Diva asked, her "mask" starting to fail and showing a mischievous smile through her face.

"I…was…_not_…."

He inhaled….and exhaled….the desire to blow up the restaurant passed.

"Nothing."

The waiter came back with the food, and set each dish down where it belonged before leaving again.

Vergil and Enzeru's discussion didn't get to finish the whole time they ate, and before they knew it, the meal had been finished.

They talked, normally, and surprisingly enough, quickly Enzeru was getting along with everyone. Even _Dante _was coming out of "I'm going to kick your ass" mode.

Then Enzeru's expression hardened as he stared out the front window of the restaurant, and everyone looked out front, dreading what was-

Nothing was there.

Vergil blinked a few times, wondering if he wasn't paying attention.

"Enzeru's gone." Diva commented happily, everyone else looked back at his empty chair, her not having been among those who looked away,

"He managed to avoid getting killed _and _get a free _meal _out of it." Vergil thought in his head, surprised he'd gotten so rusty as to fall for a silent version of "What the hell is _that _over _there_?!".

Dante's body trembled with anger at the realization he'd just gotten played by Enzeru yet again and it looked like his head was going to burst.

Vergil quickly got out of his seat, noticing that the door of the restaurant was now just starting to close; all of them not having been looking over there as Enzeru made his getaway.

He told Diva he wanted her to stay in her chair as he virtually ran outside, not wanting to lose the man before he got an answer to his question.

The door flew open as he hit it, looking right and left before spotting Enzeru walking down the sidewalk to the left.

Almost instantly he took a few big steps towards the man, who stopped walking away but still didn't look back.

"Wait, I want to know-"

"-how she remembers those things? Sorry to tell you, but I simply don't know. Like I said before, what I did before is not so simple as just 'turning back time'. And the memories that are suppressed are only suppressed if the person _wants _them to be."

Vergil's advances ceased, and he felt confusion creep up on him.

"What do you mean 'want to'?"

Enzeru still hadn't turned to face him, but gave a sigh.

"For example, there's no way Saya would _want _to remember knowing that her sister had almost been killed this early morning. So she won't. The same thing goes for the… traumatic experience. Thought I doubt _Diva _remembers that _either_. It doesn't matter _how _you've been brought up… _no _one would want to remember something like _that._"

"Then why do they remember the details of me almost dying and going to fight those 'sword-keepers'?"

"Well, that's something that didn't happen. Just like Dante remembers almost getting killed by Ritorno's power. It wasn't a pleasant thing to remember, but it was either a lie, or something that could have turned out horrifically but didn't. The rape thing… well, that was damage _done_. It wasn't just some close call."

His jaw clenched and he took another step forward.

"Then why does _Diva _remember all of those hard things _she _had to experience."

What Enzeru said next seemed strange, given the man _still _hadn't turned to face him.

"Diva is a strong girl. I don't know much about her past, but what I _do _know is that anyone who would criticize the way she used to be probably would have turned out _worse _than that, and never would have had a chance of "recovering" from it and living a happy life."

Vergil felt as if he'd hid a brick wall, no longer able to advance towards Ritorno in the aggressive way he'd done before.

"_Because _she is a strong girl, Diva is capable of withstanding the natural desire to forget unpleasant memories if they made her feel better in the long run. She said she had an epiphany over you, Vergil. I've yet to meet a single person who wants to forget an epiphany, regardless of whether it is accompanied by 'bad things' or not."

"Vergil…"

Enzeru finally turned around, facing him with a solemn expression with eyes that matched more of a wizened and lonely sage than that of a shifty, tricky man.

"Diva held onto those painful memories for _you_. Because whatever she realized as a result of them allows her to be happy with, and, most likely, _for _you. From what I could tell when I first met her, though she was a rather _charming _girl, she didn't really have a connection with anyone. She was completely isolated and alone."

He looked down remembering the things she'd told him about her past on rare occasions.

"I don't know how, but since then she's matured. And even though she still acts childish, I believe the happiness she displays is now genuine; it is no longer a front. I suppose if you wanted to be simple about it… she loves, and lives, for you. And even those though memories are painful, she endures them, for _you_."

Vergil sighed, surprised Enzeru had such depth-perception when he barely knew her.

"I don't know about you. But if it were _me_… I would be _proud _to know that the girl I loved chose _me _over not feeling any pain."

He felt his heart beating quickly.

"Vergil-"

The door of the restaurant opened loudly and he heard familiar light, repeated sounds signaling Diva running her way over to him.

"Hey! What are you doing out here all alone?" She asked.

He looked up, and Enzeru was no longer there.

"Just getting a breath of fresh air, I suppose." He responded, turning around and looking down at her smiling face.

"Did he tell you what you needed to hear?" She asked.

He felt his heart flutter, and lowered himself, hugging her.

"Yes. He did." Vergil admitted, smiling as well.


	77. Sequel

The sequel to this story, The Devil's love, and the Diva's guilt, is up. It's not going to be anything like this one, or at least there won't be five-hundred named characters to fight and remember, and the whole bleach-sword thing won't be around either. Here's the link if anyone's interested: .net/s/5496998/1/The_Devils_love_and_the_Divas_guilt


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